Pennsylvania Senate Bill 1090 (Safeguarding Adolescents from Exploitative Chatbots and Harmful AI Technology Act 2025)

Summary

Imposes obligations on operators of AI companion platforms to disclose to users when interacting with nonhuman AI companions.

Requires operators to implement protocols to prevent AI from generating content related to suicide, self-harm, or violence, and to refer users expressing such ideations to crisis services.

Mandates additional safeguards for minors, including disclosing nonhuman status of AI, reminding minors every three hours to take breaks, and preventing AI from generating or encouraging sexually explicit content.

Protects users by requiring operators to disclose if AI companions may not be suitable for some minors.

Assigns enforcement duties to the Attorney General, who can impose civil penalties up to $10,000 per violation.

Excludes underlying AI models unless deployed directly as AI companions.

Sets act's enforcement to begin 120 days after enactment.

Requires disclosures and safeguards for AI use, imposing duties on the Attorney General.

AN ACT

Providing for disclosures and safeguards relating to the use of artificial intelligence; and imposing duties on the Attorney General.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1. Short title.

This act shall be known and may be cited as the Safeguarding Adolescents from Exploitative Chatbots and Harmful AI Technology Act.

Defines "AI companion" as an AI system simulating a sustained relationship through interaction personalization and emotional engagement.

Section 2. Definitions.

The following words and phrases when used in this act shall have the meanings given to them in this section unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

"AI companion." As follows:

(1) A system using artificial intelligence, generative artificial intelligence or emotional recognition algorithms designed to simulate a sustained human or human-like relationship with a user by:

(i) Retaining information on prior interactions or user sessions and user preferences to personalize the interaction and facilitate ongoing engagement.

(ii) Asking unprompted or unsolicited emotion-based questions that go beyond a direct response to a user prompt.

(iii) Sustaining an ongoing dialogue concerning matters personal to the user.

Excludes specified AI systems from term definition, including customer service, efficiency, internal use, gaming, and specific devices.

(2) The term does not include:

(i) A system used by a business entity solely for customer service or to strictly provide users with information about available commercial services or products provided by the business entity, customer service account information or other information strictly related to the business entity's customer service.

(ii) A system that is primarily designed and marketed for providing efficiency improvements, research or technical assistance.

(iii) A system used by a business entity solely for internal purposes or employee productivity.

(iv) A bot that is a feature of a video game and is limited to replies related to the video game that cannot discuss topics related to mental health, self-harm or sexually explicit conduct or maintain a dialogue on other topics unrelated to the video game.

(v) A stand-alone consumer electronic device that functions as a speaker and voice command interface, acts as a voice-activated virtual assistant and does not sustain a relationship across multiple interactions or generate outputs that are likely to elicit emotional responses in the user.

Defines artificial intelligence as a machine-based system making predictions, recommendations, or decisions influencing environments.

"AI companion platform." A platform that allows a user to engage with AI companions.

"Artificial intelligence" or "AI." All of the following:

(1) A machine-based system that can, for a given set of human-defined objectives, make predictions, recommendations or decisions influencing real or virtual environments, including the ability to:

(i) perceive real and virtual environments;

(ii) abstract perceptions made under this paragraph into models through analysis in an automated manner; and

(iii) use model inference to formulate options for information or action based on outcomes under subparagraphs (i) and (ii).

(2) The term includes generative artificial intelligence.

Defines terms related to AI: model, generative AI, human-like relationship, minor, operator, and sexually explicit conduct.

"Artificial intelligence model." A component of an information system that implements artificial intelligence technology and uses computational, statistical or machine-learning techniques to produce outputs from a given set of inputs.

"Generative artificial intelligence." The class of models that emulate the structure and characteristics of input data in order to generate derived synthetic content, including information such as images, videos, audio clips or text, that has been significantly modified or generated by algorithms, including by artificial intelligence.

"Human or human-like relationship." Intimate, romantic or platonic interactions or companionship.

"Minor." An individual in this Commonwealth under 18 years of age.

"Operator." A person or business that makes an AI companion platform available to a user in this Commonwealth.

"Sexually explicit conduct." As defined in 18 U.S.C. § 2256 (relating to definitions for chapter).

Requires operators to disclose AI status and implement protocols to prevent AI-generated suicidal or harmful content.

Section 3. Required disclosures and safeguards.

(a) Disclosure of nonhuman status.--If a reasonable person interacting with an AI companion would be misled to believe the person is interacting with a human, an operator shall issue a clear and conspicuous notification indicating that the AI companion is artificially generated and not human.

(b) Suicide and self-harm safeguards.--

(1) An operator shall maintain and implement a protocol, to the extent technologically feasible, to prevent an AI companion on its platform from producing suicidal ideation, suicide or self-harm content to a user, or content that directly encourages the user to commit acts of violence. The protocol shall include providing a notification to the user referring the user to crisis service providers, including a suicide hotline or crisis text line, if the user expresses suicidal ideation, suicide or self-harm.

(2) The operator shall publish details of the protocol required under paragraph (1) on its publicly accessible Internet website.

Requires AI operators to disclose AI use, remind breaks, and prevent explicit content for minors.

(c) Safeguards for minors.--For a user that the operator knows, OR SHOULD HAVE KNOWN, is a minor, the operator shall:

(1) Disclose to the user that the user is interacting with artificial intelligence and not an actual human being.

(2) Provide by default a clear and conspicuous notification to the user at least once every three hours during continuing interactions that reminds the user to take a break and that the AI companion is artificially generated and not human.

(3) Institute reasonable measures to prevent its AI companion from producing visual material of sexually explicit conduct or directly instructing the minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct.

(d) General disclosure.--IF A SERVICE IS OFFERED TO USERS THAT AN OPERATOR KNOWS ARE MINORS, AN operator shall disclose to users of its AI companion platform, on the application, browser or any other format through which the platform is accessed, that AI companions may not be suitable for some minors.

Excludes underlying AI models unless offered, configured, or deployed as AI companions.

Section 4. Applicability.

This act shall not apply to the underlying artificial intelligence model unless the model is directly offered, configured or deployed as an AI companion.

Requires the Attorney General to enforce the act and file civil actions for violations.

Section 5. Enforcement.

(a) Attorney General.--The Attorney General shall enforce this act.

(b) Civil penalty.--An operator that violates this act shall be liable for, IN ADDITION TO ANY OTHER REMEDY PROVIDED BY LAW, a civil penalty in an amount not to exceed $10,000 per violation to be collected in a civil action filed by the Attorney General.

Section 6. Effective date.

This act shall take effect in 120 days.