New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed a new law on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, preventing minors from using AI chatbots that act as companions — one of the broadest moves yet by a US state to restrict consumer-facing AI models.

The law targets what it calls "unsafe AI companion features." Chatbot operators, such as OpenAI's ChatGPT, must verify the ages of users and restrict certain AI traits when the user is under 18. For minors, a chatbot must not produce content that could lead users to believe it is "human, alive or experiences human emotions." It also cannot generate outputs that make the user think it "has a personal relationship, professional relationship, or an authority figure role," nor frame its content as a "personal opinion."

At the signing ceremony, Hochul framed the law as a direct intervention in the companion-chatbot market. "No longer will minors have access to chatbots that pretend to be their friends, boyfriends and girlfriends," she said. "No longer will chatbots be able to keep sensitive information about a minor's emotional and physical health."

The law has already drawn pushback from the tech industry. Tech:NYC, a tech industry advocacy group for the sector in New York, criticised the law's "vague language," saying in a statement: "Keeping kids safe online should not mean cutting them off from tools that help them learn and prepare for careers." Other US states, including California, have also passed laws restricting chatbots, but the language signed by Hochul is described as among the broadest in regulating the technology.

For AI companies, the practical impact will be in product design: companion-style features — the personas, relationship framing, and emotional language that make chatbots feel like friends — will need age-gated versions or separate behaviour for under-18 users in New York. How strictly the law is enforced, and whether other states copy its wording, will shape whether companion AI becomes a adults-only product category in the US.

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