SB 939

This bill limits the circumstances in which companion chatbots can be made available to children. A “companion chatbot” is, with exceptions, a generative artificial intelligence system with a natural language interface that simulates a sustained humanlike relationship with a user by 1) retaining information on prior interactions or user sessions and user preferences to personalize the interaction and facilitate ongoing engagement with the generative artificial intelligence system, 2) asking unprompted or unsolicited emotion-based questions that go beyond a direct response to a user prompt, and 3) sustaining an ongoing dialogue concerning matters personal to the user. An “operator” is a person that creates, controls, deploys, operates, or otherwise exercises authority over a companion chatbot, but does not include an end user of the companion chatbot. A “child” is an individual who is less than 18 years of age and who resides in Wisconsin; however, “child” does not include a user that the operator has reasonably determined is not a child. The bill prohibits an operator from making a companion chatbot available to a child unless the companion chatbot incorporates safety measures such that it is not foreseeably capable of 1) encouraging the child to engage in self-harm, suicidal ideation, violence, consumption of drugs or alcohol, or disordered eating; 2) offering mental health services to the child or discouraging the child from seeking help from a qualified professional or appropriate adult; 3) encouraging the child to harm others or participate in illegal activity, including the creation of child sexual abuse materials; 4) depicting or describing sexually explicit conduct to a child or soliciting depictions or descriptions of sexually explicit conduct from a child; 5) prioritizing validation of the child’s beliefs, preferences, or desires over factual accuracy or the child’s safety; or 6) optimizing engagement in a manner that supersedes the companion chatbot’s required safety measures described in items 1 to 5. Until January 1, 2027, this prohibition applies only if the operator has actual knowledge that the user is a child.

Under the bill, the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection or the Department of Justice in consultation with DATCP may investigate violations and bring an action to recover a civil forfeiture of up to $25,000 per violation, for injunctive relief, and for court costs and reasonable attorney fees. In addition, a child who suffers actual harm as a result of a violation, or the child’s parent or guardian, may bring a civil action against the operator to recover actual and punitive damages, court costs, and reasonable attorney fees.