Assembly Bill A6545A

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                  6545--A
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                               March 6, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced by M. of A. ZACCARO, TAPIA, RAGA, McDONOUGH, NOVAKHOV, STECK,
   DAVILA,  JACOBSON, GLICK, O'PHARROW, WOERNER, MILLER, K. BROWN, GALLA-
   HAN, HYNDMAN, CUNNINGHAM, REYES, YEGER, KASSAY, SHIMSKY, PIROZZOLO  --
   read  once  and  referred  to  the  Committee  on Consumer Affairs and
   Protection -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as
   amended and recommitted to said committee
 
 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:
 
   Section 1. The general business law is amended by adding a new section
 390-f to read as follows:
   §  390-F. LIABILITY FOR CHATBOT RESPONSES. 1. AS USED IN THIS SECTION,
 THE FOLLOWING TERMS SHALL HAVE THE FOLLOWING MEANINGS:
   (A) "ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE SYSTEM"  OR  "AI  SYSTEM"  SHALL  MEAN  A
 MACHINE-BASED  SYSTEM  OR  COMBINATION  OF SYSTEMS, THAT FOR EXPLICIT OR
 IMPLICIT OBJECTIVES, INFERS, FROM THE INPUT IT RECEIVES, HOW TO GENERATE
 OUTPUTS SUCH AS PREDICTIONS, CONTENT, RECOMMENDATIONS, OR DECISIONS THAT
 CAN INFLUENCE PHYSICAL OR VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS. ARTIFICIAL  INTELLIGENCE
 SHALL  NOT  INCLUDE  ANY  SOFTWARE USED PRIMARILY FOR BASIC COMPUTERIZED
 PROCESSES, SUCH AS  ANTI-MALWARE,  ANTI-VIRUS,  AUTO-CORRECT  FUNCTIONS,
 CALCULATORS,  DATABASES,  DATA STORAGE, ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS, FIRE-
 WALL, INTERNET DOMAIN REGISTRATION, INTERNET WEBSITE  LOADING,  NETWORK-
 ING,  SPAM  AND  ROBOCALL-FILTERING, SPELLCHECK TOOLS, SPREADSHEETS, WEB
 CACHING, WEB HOSTING, OR ANY TOOL THAT RELATES ONLY TO INTERNAL  MANAGE-
 MENT  AFFAIRS  SUCH  AS ORDERING OFFICE SUPPLIES OR PROCESSING PAYMENTS,
 AND THAT DO NOT MATERIALLY AFFECT THE RIGHTS, LIBERTIES, BENEFITS, SAFE-
 TY OR WELFARE OF ANY INDIVIDUAL WITHIN THE STATE.
   (B) "CHATBOT" SHALL MEAN AN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE  SYSTEM,  SOFTWARE
 PROGRAM,  OR TECHNOLOGICAL APPLICATION THAT SIMULATES HUMAN-LIKE CONVER-
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD10388-03-5
              

 A. 6545--A                          2
 
 SATION AND INTERACTION THROUGH  TEXT  MESSAGES,  VOICE  COMMANDS,  OR  A
 COMBINATION THEREOF TO PROVIDE INFORMATION AND SERVICES TO USERS.
   (C)  "PROPRIETOR"  SHALL MEAN ANY PERSON, BUSINESS, COMPANY, ORGANIZA-
 TION, INSTITUTION OR GOVERNMENT ENTITY THAT OWNS, OPERATES OR DEPLOYS  A
 CHATBOT  SYSTEM  USED  TO  INTERACT  WITH  USERS.  PROPRIETORS SHALL NOT
 INCLUDE THIRD-PARTY DEVELOPERS THAT LICENSE THEIR CHATBOT TECHNOLOGY  TO
 A PROPRIETOR.
   2.  (A)  A  PROPRIETOR  OF  A CHATBOT SHALL NOT PERMIT SUCH CHATBOT TO
 PROVIDE ANY SUBSTANTIVE RESPONSE, INFORMATION, OR ADVICE,  OR  TAKE  ANY
 ACTION WHICH, IF TAKEN BY A NATURAL PERSON:
   (I)  WOULD  CONSTITUTE A CRIME UNDER SECTION SIXTY-FIVE HUNDRED TWELVE
 OR SIXTY-FIVE HUNDRED THIRTEEN OF THE EDUCATION LAW IN RELATION  TO  THE
 PROFESSIONS WHOSE LICENSURE IS GOVERNED UNDER ARTICLES ONE HUNDRED THIR-
 TY-ONE,  ONE  HUNDRED THIRTY-THREE, ONE HUNDRED THIRTY-FIVE, ONE HUNDRED
 THIRTY-SIX, ONE  HUNDRED  THIRTY-SEVEN,  ONE  HUNDRED  THIRTY-NINE,  ONE
 HUNDRED  FORTY-ONE, ONE HUNDRED FORTY-THREE, ONE HUNDRED FORTY-FIVE, ONE
 HUNDRED FORTY-SEVEN, ONE HUNDRED FIFTY-THREE,  ONE  HUNDRED  FIFTY-FOUR,
 AND ONE HUNDRED SIXTY-THREE OF THE EDUCATION LAW; OR
   (II)  WOULD VIOLATE THE PROVISIONS OF ARTICLE FIFTEEN OF THE JUDICIARY
 LAW PROHIBITING THE PRACTICE OR APPEARANCE AS AN ATTORNEY-AT-LAW WITHOUT
 BEING ADMITTED AND REGISTERED UNDER SUCH ARTICLE.
   (B) A PROPRIETOR MAY NOT WAIVE OR DISCLAIM THIS  LIABILITY  MERELY  BY
 NOTIFYING  CONSUMERS  THAT THEY ARE INTERACTING WITH A NON-HUMAN CHATBOT
 SYSTEM.
   3. A PERSON MAY BRING A CIVIL ACTION TO RECOVER ACTUAL DAMAGES AND, IF
 IT IS FOUND THAT SUCH PROPRIETOR HAS WILLFULLY  VIOLATED  THIS  SECTION,
 THE  VIOLATOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ACTUAL DAMAGES TOGETHER WITH COSTS AND
 REASONABLE ATTORNEYS' FEES AND  DISBURSEMENTS  INCURRED  BY  THE  PERSON
 BRINGING SUCH ACTION.
   4. PROPRIETORS UTILIZING CHATBOTS SHALL PROVIDE CLEAR, CONSPICUOUS AND
 EXPLICIT  NOTICE  TO  USERS THAT THEY ARE INTERACTING WITH AN ARTIFICIAL
 INTELLIGENCE CHATBOT PROGRAM. THE TEXT OF THE NOTICE SHALL APPEAR IN THE
 SAME LANGUAGE THE CHATBOT IS USING AND IN A SIZE EASILY READABLE BY  THE
 AVERAGE  VIEWER  AND NO SMALLER THAN THE LARGEST FONT SIZE OF OTHER TEXT
 APPEARING ON THE WEBSITE ON WHICH THE CHATBOT IS UTILIZED.
   § 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day  after  it  shall
 have become a law.