California is cracking down on AI technology deemed too harmful for kids, attacking two increasingly notorious child safety fronts: companion bots and deepfake pornography.
On Monday, Governor Gavin Newsom signed the first-ever US law regulating companion bots after several teen suicides sparked lawsuits.
Moving forward, California will require any companion bot platforms—including ChatGPT, Grok, Character.AI, and the like—to create and make public "protocols to identify and address users’ suicidal ideation or expressions of self-harm."