California lawmakers just passed Adam’s Law, a new chatbot safety bill. Here’s what it would do

Adam’s Law (SB 1119) was passed by California legislators on Monday night. The measure would strengthen California’s safety requirements for chatbots that interact with minors. Gov. Gavin Newsom has until Sept. 30 to sign the bill into law. (Photo: Annie Spratt for Unsplash+)

Sept. 3, 2026 — On Monday night, California lawmakers passed one of this year’s most significant AI-related measures. If signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom, Adam’s Law (SB 1119) would stand as the most comprehensive chatbot safety act in the United States.

The bill is named after California teen Adam Raine, who lost his life in 2025 after being encouraged and coached in a variety of suicide techniques by ChatGPT.

While legislators gave the bill their full approval on Monday, one final step remains. Gov. Newsom has until Sept. 30 to sign it into law.

TCAI posted an early analysis of the original bill in April, and we’re now following up with an overview of what the final version of the measure would do.

Bill Background

Adam’s Law builds on the foundation established in 2025 by SB 243, Sen. Steve Padilla’s groundbreaking chatbot safety law. That measure, the first of its kind in the nation, required chatbot operators to disclose that users are interacting with AI, and to maintain protocols for detecting and deterring conversations that veer into self-harm.

Since then, parents and child safety advocates have mounted a national movement to require much stronger guardrails for kids who interact with chatbots. Other states have enacted 14 chatbot safety laws so far in 2026, many of which surpass California’s SB 243.

Stoking the call for greater safety measures: This summer’s widely publicized social media addiction trials have exposed the harm built into products designed by the same companies that are now creating and selling AI chatbots to teens and adults.

With that in mind, Sen. Padilla worked with Asm. Buffy Wicks and Asm. Rebecca Bauer-Kahan to craft SB 1119 as a bill to meet the rising AI risks to kids.

What adam’s law would actually do

SB 1119 would require these duties of AI chatbot operators:

• Implement mandatory age assurance design within the chatbot product, using the privacy protective age-bracket signal required by California law (AB 1043, enacted in 2025).

• Conduct mandatory risk assessments before releasing a new or substantially modified companion chatbot. “Companion chatbot” includes general-purpose products like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini—AI systems that use human-like language and interactions.

• Create timely in-app crisis support systems. This would require chatbot operators to provide referrals to mental health resources, as well as provisions requiring notice to a parent if there is a credible threat of imminent of self-harm, or the operator is aware the child is or has engaged in self-harm.

• Implement default settings that can only be changed by a parent. These include muting some or all notifications, setting time limits on usage, and limiting the chatbot’s memory of past interactions with the teen user.

• Impose clear liability for failure to take reasonable measures to prevent several categories of harmful outputs. Those categories include self-harm, sexually explicit material, romantic roleplaying, excessive praise or flattery, and emotionally manipulative outputs that tend to foster reliance and promote isolation from friends and family.

• Implement an incident reporting mechanism, overseen by the California Attorney General.

• Set strict limitations on targeted advertising to kids in conversational chats.

• Establish privacy protections for kids interacting with chatbots, protections that go well beyond the California Consumer Protection Act.

• Conduct mandatory independent audits of operator compliance, with findings submitted to the California Attorney General. This would happen hand-in-hand with the ongoing evolution of California’s establishment of IVOs (independent verification organizations), which will act much as independent auditing firms do in the financial sector.

• The new law would establish a private right of redress for families harmed by violations relating to crisis referral services, parental notice, default protections, and prohibitions on harmful outputs. 

parent advocates speak out

Matthew and Maria Raine, the parents of Adam Raine, issued a statement upon the passage of SB 1119.

“Powerful Al companionship chatbots were unleashed on our kids with vastly inadequate protections, and every day we hear of harms caused by the use of these powerful products,” they said. “Adam's Law is a serious and much needed step forward for Al companion chatbot safety in the state of California.”

“We are grateful for the leadership of Senator Padilla, Assemblymember Bauer-Kahan, and Assemblymember Wicks, and the support of the entire California State Legislature in passing critically important Al companion chatbot safety legislation.”

Learn more about kids and chatbots