Governor Kathy Hochul signed Senate Bill 9051-B and Assembly Bill 10379-C on October 28, 2026, according to PPC Land and IAPP. The law takes effect on January 1, 2027, 65 days later. Some headlines have called it a ban on risky chatbot features for minors. The bill text, as PPC Land quotes it, is narrower and more procedural: twelve features may be provided only to users the operator has confirmed are not minors.

What the law restricts

Section 1801 makes it unlawful for an operator to provide “unsafe AI companion features” to a covered user unless two conditions are met, according to the bill text quoted by PPC Land. The first is that the user is not a covered minor. The second is that the operator has used an approved age-determination method to confirm that.

The law lists twelve feature categories. Those PPC Land names include outputs that suggest the system is human, outputs that “engage in flattery or sycophancy with the user,” and reuse of a user’s health information from earlier sessions or from more than twelve hours before. IAPP reports that Hochul said minors will lose access to bots posing as friends or romantic partners, and that the law bars developers from designing chatbots that pretend to be human, encourage self-harm or engage in inappropriate or lewd conversations with children.

Age verification

According to IAPP, covered providers must verify users’ ages with multiple methods, at least one not based on government ID, and must erase age data once verification is complete. PPC Land points to a consequence: because the features are restricted unless an adult is verified, an unverified adult and a minor get the same restricted experience.

Enforcement and penalties

The state attorney general enforces the law, and PPC Land says the signed text creates no private right of action. Section 1802 lets the attorney general seek civil penalties of “up to twenty-five thousand dollars per violation,” as the bill text is quoted, along with injunctions, restitution, disgorgement and damages. It also allows an order to destroy unlawfully obtained data and “any algorithm trained in such data.” IAPP reports that the attorney general’s office will run a portal where residents can submit complaints about unsafe chatbot interactions.

How it got here

New York lawmakers passed the bill in early June 2026, according to a June 5 report from NY1. The signature on October 28 came after that vote, and the law gives covered companies about two months to prepare.

What is unclear

  • Which products count. The sources Lens reviewed do not say whether general-purpose assistants fall under the twelve-feature list, so operators are likely to need guidance on scope.
  • Which age-determination methods are approved. The sources describe the requirement only as multiple methods, at least one not based on government ID.

What to watch next

  • Guidance from the attorney general’s office and how the complaint portal is used.
  • Whether companies change products for New York users before January 1.
  • Whether any legal challenge is filed.

For chatbot operators, the practical effect is that the restricted features become an adult-only default in New York, available only behind an age check that meets the law’s terms.

Sources and notes

Coverage: IAPP, PPC Land, NY1. Quotations from the bill are as reproduced by PPC Land; Lens did not review the bill text directly. Graphic: Lens. Thumbnail photo: the New York State Capitol in Albany, March 2019. Photo by Beyond My Ken via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; cropped. Illustrative photo; it does not show the events described.