Twelve States. One Chatbot, Zero Uniform Rules

The first companion-chatbot statute nationwide, with a private right of action carrying damages of at least $1,000 per violation. Three distinct dates: signed October 13, 2025; core duties operative January 1, 2026; annual reporting begins July 1, 2027.

• Disclosure cadence: three-hour reminders for minors that they are talking to an AI.
• Annual reporting: phased in starting July 1, 2027, to California's Office of Suicide Prevention.

In force since November 5, 2025; the Attorney General can seek civil penalties up to $15,000 per day, directed to a suicide-prevention fund.

• Crisis-referral protocol: mandatory detection and referral for suicidal ideation or self-harm expressions.
• Enforcement: Attorney General injunctive and civil-penalty authority, not a private right of action.

Each enacted its own companion-chatbot statute between December 2025 and early 2026, sharing the same disclosure and crisis-protocol core with different penalty structures.

• Common core: AI-disclosure reminders and a suicide/self-harm referral protocol required in all eight.
• Multi-state reconciliation: a single product must track eight different reminder cadences and enforcement bodies.

Rounds out the current group of twelve states with an enacted companion-chatbot law as of mid-2026.

• Pattern reuse: follows the same disclosure-and-crisis-protocol model as the eleven states before it.

Signed July 14, 2026, rounding out the current group of twelve enacted states. Persistent and session-start disclosure, hourly for minors.

• Crisis protocols: bars unpredictable reward systems and discouraging disengagement for minors.
• Enforcement: unfair or deceptive trade practices authority, no private right of action.

Passed the legislature but was vetoed by the governor. Not law, and not part of the twelve-state enacted count, listed here only so a reader can see what did not survive.

• Watch item: a vetoed or stalled bill in one state does not slow enactment elsewhere; Florida S 344 stalled the same way and is not enacted either.

Introduced October 28, 2025 by Sen. Hawley with Blumenthal, Britt and Murphy; cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously around April 29, 2026 but no floor vote has been scheduled in either chamber.

• Proposed scope: age verification, mandatory AI-disclosure, and a ban on sexually explicit or violence-encouraging content, with penalties up to $100,000 per incident.
• Naming caution: four other bills in this Congress share the GUARD Act name (S. 851, S. 2544, S. 3454, H.R. 9129); S. 3062 is the one that moved.

Orders issued around September 11, 2025 to Alphabet, Character Technologies, Meta, OpenAI, Snap and xAI. An open information-gathering inquiry: no report, complaint, or consent order as of today. Not an enforcement action.

• Scope: how these companies measure and mitigate harm to minors and other users from companion AI.

Issued by the Cyberspace Administration of China with four further agencies around April 10, 2026, effective July 15, 2026. The most prescriptive companion-AI rule in force anywhere.

• Minors: bans provision of virtual intimate relationships; parental consent required under 14; mandatory minors mode with time limits, reality reminders and guardian alerts.
• Emotional dependence: Article 8 bars excessively catering to users in ways that induce dependence or use emotional manipulation to push harmful decisions.
• All users: universal AI disclosure, two-hour continuous-use break reminders, and overdependence detection warnings.

Registered September 9, 2025, enforceable from March 9, 2026. Explicitly names AI companion chatbots and AI companion chatbot features.

• Duties: risk assessments, age assurance, parental controls, and reporting to the eSafety Commissioner.
• Context: sits inside the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024, in force December 10, 2025.

Articles 5(1)(a) and 5(1)(b) have applied since February 2, 2025 and prohibit manipulative techniques and the exploitation of vulnerabilities including age. Article 50(1) has applied since August 2, 2026 and requires disclosure that a person is interacting with an AI system.

• Relevance: the primary European levers against companion-bot engagement dark patterns, even though the AI Act has no companion-specific article.

The Italian data protection authority blocked Replika’s processing of Italian users’ data on February 2, 2023 and fined its maker, Luka Inc., five million euro in 2025 for lack of a lawful basis and absence of age verification. Italy’s national AI law, Law 132/2025, in force from around October 2025, sets a minimum age of 14 for a minor’s consent to AI use.

• Significance: the only completed regulatory penalty against a companion-AI provider anywhere in the world.