Newsom Vetoes Bill to Restrict AI Chatbots for Minors

The governor said the proposed AI restrictions were too broad, even as parents and advocates urged stronger safeguards for minors online

On Monday, California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill meant to restrict the usage of AI chatbots for anyone under 18. 

The bill was proposed by Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan’s (D) as the Leading Ethical AI Development for Kids Act (LEAD). It would have restricted any companion chatbot platform, including those from OpenAI and Meta, from being used by a minor if there were obvious potential for harm or sexual conversations. 

“While I strongly support the author’s goal of establishing necessary safeguards for the safe use of AI by minors, (the bill) imposes such broad restrictions on the use of conversational AI tools that it may unintentionally lead to a total ban on the use of these products by minors,” Newsom said.

Newsom faced intense pressure on the LEAD Act, including a personal letter from parents who said their son took his own life after ChatGPT became his “suicide coach.” On the opposing side, the tech industry argued that the bill was too broad and would stifle innovation by taking away useful tools for children, such as AI tutoring systems and programs that could detect early signs of dyslexia.

Common Sense Media, a non-profit organization that reviews and rates media for families, sponsored the LEAD Act, decried the veto. James Steyer, Common Sense Media’s founder and CEO, said in a statement, “It is genuinely sad that the big tech companies fought this legislation, which actually is in the best interest of their industry long-term.”

Newsom signed a narrower measure, Track authored by Sen. Steve Padilla (D), that will require chatbots to establish protocols to “detect, remove, and respond to instances of suicide ideation users.”  

Chatbot operators now will have to implement protocols to ensure their system does not deliver self-harm or suicide content to users, as well as place “reasonable measures” to prevent chatbots from encouraging minors to engage in sexually explicit conduct.