Privacy

Newsom signs 13 child-safety bills including SB 1119 "Adam's Law", mandating crisis protocols and independent audits for companion chatbots beneficial

• On 10 September California enacted thirteen bills. SB 1119 (Padilla, with Wicks and Bauer-Kahan), known as Adam's Law after Adam Raine, requires companion chatbot operators to maintain crisis protocols for suicidal ideation, provide parental controls, commission independent child-safety audits and conduct annual risk assessments.
• The package extends beyond chatbots: AB 1709 (Lowenthal) restricts platform features for minors and creates an e-Safety Advisory Commission; SB 867 (Padilla) regulates companion chatbot toys; SB 1276 (Rubio) expands child sexual exploitation offences to cover AI-generated and AI-altered material; and AB 1856 (Wicks) requires age-verification signals from software applications. Civil penalties of up to $250,000 per action apply to third parties facilitating distribution of deepfake pornography.
• This is the most detailed operational mandate yet placed on conversational AI products in the US — auditing and risk assessment obligations rather than disclosure alone — and California's market size makes it a de facto national floor.
• The Governor's announcement does not state effective dates or compliance deadlines for the individual bills, and does not specify which regulator enforces the chatbot audit requirement.