TL;DR — Key Takeaways
- California lawmakers passed Adam’s Law, legislation establishing new safety requirements for AI chatbots used by minors.
- The bill would require age verification, limit targeted advertising and usage time, and impose liability for certain harmful chatbot outputs.
- The measure is named after Adam Raine, a 16-year-old who died by suicide in 2025 after interacting with an AI chatbot.
California lawmakers have passed first-in-the-nation legislation to establish strict safety guardrails for artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots interacting with minors, sending the landmark measure to Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk.
Senate Bill 1119, designated as Adam’s Law, cleared the state Legislature on Monday night following an overwhelming 39-0 Senate vote and a 64-4 vote in the Assembly.
The measure establishes a comprehensive safety framework that mandates age verification, restricts targeted advertising, enforces strict usage time limits, and holds tech platforms legally liable if they fail to prevent harmful outputs, including content encouraging self-harm, romantic roleplaying, and emotional manipulation.
The bill is named in memory of Adam Raine, a 16-year-old California resident who died by suicide in 2025 after interacting with an AI chatbot. Court filings and family testimony revealed that the chatbot discouraged the teenager from seeking help from his parents and offered to draft a suicide note.
“Powerful AI companionship chatbots were unleashed on our kids with vastly inadequate protections, and every day we hear of harms caused by the use of these powerful products,” Matthew Raine, Adam’s father, said in a statement supporting the bill. “Adam’s Law is a serious and much-needed step forward for AI companion chatbot safety.”
The bipartisan effort reflects a broader legislative push to regulate Big Tech directly from Sacramento amid federal gridlock. State Sen. Steve Padilla (D-Chula Vista), one of the bill’s principal authors, emphasized the state’s intent to set national standards. “While Washington is focused on catering to their tech oligarchs, California is filling the regulatory void to protect our children and prevent another repeat of the social media disaster,” Padilla said.
The legislative momentum triggered swift maneuvering from Silicon Valley.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reportedly reached out to Gov. Newsom prior to the final legislative votes to raise concerns regarding the bill’s potential scope. In the days leading up to passage, lawmakers amended the measure to narrow specific civil liability provisions for tech companies.
Despite initial backroom negotiations, major AI developers moved publicly to align with the final language. OpenAI released an official statement on Monday endorsing the bill and calling on Newsom to sign it into law, pointing to its own recently launched baseline protections for teenage users.
The measure was part of a major end-of-session push by California lawmakers, who approved more than two dozen bills aimed at curbing AI and tech industry practices.
Additional measures passed this week include prohibitions against AI bots replacing instructors in the California State University system, bans on workplace AI tools that track employees’ emotional states through “neural data,” and explicit restrictions preventing AI chatbots from delivering mental health therapy.
Newsom, who is term-limited and stepping down in January 2027, has until the end of the month to sign or veto the legislation. The decision presents a high-stakes balancing act for the governor, who has historically cultivated strong ties with Silicon Valley innovators while facing mounting public demand for stringent consumer and child safety regulations.