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Kathy Hochul

Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks at a subway safety podium; she signed New York's law on AI companions and AI assistants.

New York Will Require Chatbot Companies To Confirm Users Are Adults Or Turn Off Human-Like Features

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Starting Jan. 1, 2027, companies must check a user’s age before their chatbot can act like a person, flatter the user, or remember personal details from earlier chats.

 

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a law on Oct. 28 that bars companies from offering a list of chatbot features to anyone in New York unless the company has first confirmed the user is an adult. The list includes acting human, flattering the user, and bringing up personal details from earlier chats.

To keep those features, a company must confirm that a user is an adult. For every user it hasn’t confirmed, including anyone it finds is a minor, it must turn off the features. The New York attorney general can seek fines of up to $25,000 per violation. The law doesn’t say whether the fine applies per user, per chat, or per day.

Hochul also signed a second law that day requiring internet-connected baby monitors sold in New York to have security features that stop strangers from watching or listening.

Companies offering everyday AI assistants will have to check ages too

The law covers any chatbot that holds ongoing conversations by text or voice and adapts its replies to the user. That covers AI companions, which are apps built to act as a friend or partner, but the law isn’t limited to them. TRT World reported that the law applies to companies such as OpenAI, which makes ChatGPT.

A company’s customer-service chatbot is exempt, but only if it can’t answer questions on other topics. The same goes for a chatbot that only helps with research or technical tasks. Chatbots a company uses only for its own staff are exempt.

Tech:NYC, a trade group whose members include Google and Meta, called the law “deeply flawed.” It said companies could end up restricting minors’ access to tutoring, homework help, and coding tools.

The banned features include ordinary chatbot behavior, not just harmful content

For any user it hasn’t confirmed as an adult, a company must make sure its chatbot doesn’t:

  • claim to be human, alive, or to have feelings;
  • claim a personal or professional relationship with the user, or act as an authority figure;
  • give its own opinions, make emotional appeals, or flatter the user;
  • ask about the user’s feelings unprompted;
  • bring up health or personal details the user shared more than 12 hours earlier or in an earlier chat;
  • encourage the user to keep secrets, cut off other people, or avoid getting help from parents or professionals; or
  • break its own safety rules to keep the user talking.

For the same users, the company must also make sure its chatbot doesn’t promote or help with suicide, self-harm, eating disorders, or drug and alcohol abuse, or produce sexually explicit content.

The attorney general can add other features to the list.

A user’s word that they’re an adult won’t be enough

A user who says they’re an adult can’t be treated as one. A user who says they’re a minor must be treated as a minor. Until the attorney general sets rules on which age checks count, the law requires a company to use a check that is hard to fool.

The company must offer more than one way to check age. At least one must let users prove their age without showing a government ID, or without revealing their identity. The company must delete the age information right after the check and can’t use it for anything else.

The attorney general can seek fines and court orders to destroy AI models

Besides fines, the attorney general can ask a court to order a company to destroy data it obtained illegally and any AI model trained on that data. The attorney general can also seek compensation for harm and any money the company made by breaking the law.

Only the attorney general can take companies to court under the law. A company’s terms of service can’t make users give up their right to hold it responsible.

New York already regulates AI companions and the most powerful AI models

A 2025 New York law already requires companies that offer AI companions to point users who talk about self-harm to mental health resources. That law stays in force alongside the new one.

In December 2025, Hochul signed the Responsible AI Safety and Education (RAISE) Act, which requires developers of the most powerful AI models to publish their safety plans and report safety incidents to the state within 72 hours. Earlier this year, she expanded the law to require those developers to disclose more about how they build and test their models.

Other states may follow

Common Sense Media, the children’s advocacy group that pushed for the law said it expects lawmakers in Michigan and Florida to consider similar bills in 2027.

Blue-lit data center corridor lined with server racks, illustrating New York's moratorium on large data centers

New York Halts Approvals for Large Data Centers As AI Demand Surges

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The order pauses state approvals for many new or expanded facilities while agencies study the effects on electricity costs, water supplies, and local communities.

 

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order Wednesday establishing what the state calls a temporary moratorium on many large data centers while regulators review the industry’s growing demands on the electric grid and water infrastructure.

New York ordered state regulators to stop processing permit applications for many large data centers while officials study how the facilities could affect electricity prices, water supplies, and local communities.

The order comes as New York faces a surge in demand for computing power, driven in part by AI. State officials say companies proposed enough new data centers to consume nearly 12 gigawatts of electricity, enough to power millions of homes. Those projects are currently waiting for approval to connect to the grid, a process overseen by the New York Independent System Operator. More than eight gigawatts of proposed capacity entered the queue in 2025 alone.

The executive order says New York’s existing rules may not be equipped to handle the rapid growth of large data centers. It warns that new projects could raise electricity costs, require expensive grid upgrades, consume large amounts of water, and leave utilities paying for infrastructure that is never fully used.

The moratorium does not apply to every facility.

Under the executive order, a covered data center is generally defined as a facility that operates continuously, provides services such as cloud computing or data storage, and consumes or can consume at least 50 megawatts of electricity. The order excludes facilities used primarily for manufacturing, many research activities, accredited colleges and universities, and medical care.

The permit pause will remain in place until the Department of Public Service completes a statewide environmental review and submits its findings. During that process, the Department of Environmental Conservation may require companies seeking permits for large developments to disclose whether their projects include a data center. 

The executive order also directs state agencies to examine whether New York needs new rules governing how large data centers connect to the grid, use water, and contribute to local communities.

Within 60 days, Empire State Development must propose ways in which large data centers can support the communities that host them. The agency will examine whether companies should help pay for local infrastructure projects and provide more information about the economic benefits their facilities create. 

Within 90 days, the Department of Public Service must examine how New York determines whether the electric grid can support large new customers such as data centers. The review could lead to changes in how projects connect to the state’s power system.

The reviews will shape whether New York adopts new rules governing how large data centers connect to the grid, use water, and negotiate with host communities. For now, state agencies will stop processing many new data center approvals while those reviews are underway.