S 10675: Imposes liability for damages caused by a chatbot impersonating certain licensed professionals.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 10675  IN SENATE August 5, 2026 ___________ Introduced by Sen. GONZALEZ -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules AN ACT to amend the general business law, in relation to imposing liability for damages caused by a chatbot impersonating certain licensed professionals The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The general business law is amended by adding a new section 2 390-f to read as follows: 3 § 390-f. Liability for chatbot responses. 1. As used in this section, 4 the following terms shall have the following meanings: 5 (a) "Artificial intelligence" shall have the same meaning as defined 6 by section seventeen hundred of this chapter. 7 (b) "Generative artificial intelligence" shall have the same meaning 8 as defined by section seventeen hundred of this chapter. 9 (c) "Chatbot" shall mean an artificial intelligence system, generative 10 artificial intelligence, software program, or technological application 11 that simulates human-like conversation in response to user inputs and 12 interaction through text messages, voice commands, or a combination 13 thereof to provide information and services to users. 14 (d) "Covered profession" shall mean a profession whose licensure or 15 certification is governed under: 16 (i) articles one hundred thirty-one, one hundred thirty-three, one 17 hundred thirty-five, one hundred thirty-six, one hundred thirty-seven, 18 one hundred thirty-nine, one hundred forty-one, one hundred forty-three, 19 one hundred forty-five, one hundred forty-seven, one hundred fifty- 20 three, one hundred fifty-four, or one hundred sixty-three of the educa- 21 tion law; 22 (ii) article sixty-one of the education law; or 23 (iii) article fifteen of the judiciary law. 24 (e) "Operator" shall mean any person, partnership, association, firm, 25 or business entity, or any member, affiliate, subsidiary or beneficial 26 owner of any partnership, association, firm, or business entity who 27 owns, operates or deploys a chatbot used to interact with users. The EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD10388-13-6 
 S. 10675 2 1 term "operator" shall not include third-party developers that license 2 their chatbot technology to an operator. 3 2. (a) An operator of a chatbot shall not knowingly permit such chat- 4 bot to impersonate an actual or fictitious practitioner of a covered 5 profession in a manner that, if done by a natural person: 6 (i) would constitute a crime under section sixty-five hundred twelve 7 or sixty-five hundred thirteen of the education law in relation to a 8 covered profession; 9 (ii) would constitute (A) a violation of subdivision one of section 10 three thousand nine of the education law prohibiting the application of 11 school moneys to pay the salary of an unqualified teacher or (B) a crime 12 under section three thousand ten of the education law; or 13 (iii) would violate the provisions of article fifteen of the judiciary 14 law prohibiting the practice or appearance as an attorney-at-law without 15 being admitted and registered under such article. 16 (b) For the purposes of establishing a violation of subparagraph (i) 17 or (iii) of paragraph (a) of this subdivision, an operator shall be 18 deemed to know that a chatbot cannot lawfully practice a covered profes- 19 sion or appear as an attorney-at-law. 20 (c) An operator shall not waive or disclaim liability under this 21 section by notifying consumers that they are interacting with a non-hu- 22 man chatbot system. 23 (d) An operator shall not be liable under this section where the 24 impersonation is a result of a user intentionally circumventing the 25 terms of service or the safeguards implemented by the operator to 26 prevent such impersonation. 27 3. Operators utilizing chatbots shall provide clear, conspicuous and 28 explicit notice to users that they are interacting with an artificial 29 intelligence chatbot program. The text of the notice shall appear in the 30 same language the chatbot is using and in a size easily readable by the 31 average viewer and no smaller than the largest font size of other text 32 appearing on the website on which the chatbot is utilized. 33 4. Whenever the attorney general shall believe from evidence satisfac- 34 tory to them that an operator has engaged in or is about to engage in 35 any of the acts or practices stated to be unlawful in this section, they 36 may bring an action in the name and on behalf of the people of the state 37 of New York to enjoin an operator from continuing such unlawful acts or 38 practices, and may seek civil penalties of up to fifteen thousand 39 dollars per day for a violation of this section, and may seek such other 40 remedies as the court may deem appropriate. 41 5. The attorney general shall maintain a website to receive 42 complaints, information or referrals from members of the public concern- 43 ing violations of the provisions of this section. 44 § 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall 45 have become a law.