Chatbot Laws Which laws apply?

Chatbot age verification laws

Some chatbot laws require companies to verify or estimate users’ ages, so that protections for minors can apply. This is one reason chatbot apps have begun asking users to confirm their age.

4 enacted laws in 4 states, plus 9 bills and actions, as of November 4, 2026.

Knowing a user is a minor, or finding out

Chatbot laws use two approaches. Some apply extra duties only when the company knows a user is a minor. Others require the company to take steps to determine or estimate each user’s age, often called age assurance. The second approach reaches more users, because a company cannot avoid the duties by not asking.

Age signals from phones and app stores

California’s Digital Age Assurance Act requires app developers to request a user’s age bracket from the device’s operating system or app store when the app is downloaded and launched. California SB 1119 gives companion chatbot operators a choice: determine users’ ages under that act, or apply its child protections to every user. Other states take different routes, so read each law’s method.

What to check in each law

Look at who counts as a minor, what method of age checking the law accepts, what the company must do once it knows a user’s age, and what limits apply to data collected for age checks. The table below lists the age provisions recorded here, with the section that imposes each one.

Enacted laws

How the laws compare

LawWhat it requiresSection
California SB 1119Operators must either determine each user's age (using age signals under the Digital Age Assurance Act, Civ. Code § 1798.500 et seq., or, if that fails, the age determination made under Health & Safety Code § 27001) or apply the child protections to all users. In the second case, parent-only defaults cannot be changed unless the operator has actual knowledge the user is not a child.§ 21811
Colorado HB 26-1263Operator must use commercially reasonable or generally accepted methods to estimate the age of account holders and users, and may not willfully disregard clear and convincing information that a user is a minor. The estimated age counts as knowledge.§ 6-1-1708(2)
Georgia SB 540Before allowing a feature or mode that may produce sexually explicit synthetic content, the operator must use a commercially reasonable age assurance method proportionate to the risk (age estimation, account-based assurance or identity-based verification where necessary).§ 39-5-6(j)
New York A 10008-C / S 9008-CAn operator may not offer a user an integrated AI companion until it has used age assurance to learn whether the user is under 18. Until Attorney General rules take effect, self-declared age or minor status may not be used.§ 1540(1), (7)(a)

Bills, vetoes and actions

Questions

Which states have age checks laws?

California, Colorado, Georgia and New York have enacted 4 laws in this group, as of November 4, 2026.