Regulon — NY-SB-10675 · NY SB 10675 (Chatbot Professional Impersonation)

WHAT THIS BILL REGULATES · 2 REQUIREMENT TYPES

How Is This Bill Enforced

Enforcement Authority

Enforced by the New York Attorney General. Agency-initiated: when the Attorney General has satisfactory evidence that an operator has engaged in or is about to engage in unlawful acts, they may bring an action to enjoin the operator. The AG must maintain a website to receive public complaints, information, and referrals. No private right of action.

Private Right of Action

No private right of action. Enforcement is exclusive to the designated authority.

Penalties

The Attorney General may seek injunctive relief, civil penalties of up to $15,000 per day for a violation, and such other remedies as the court deems appropriate.

Verbatim statutory text on the left; plain-language analysis and a per-section checklist on the right. Numbered markers cross-link to the matching checklist row.

Statutory Text

Analysis & Obligations

Gen. Bus. Law § 390-f

Liability for chatbot responses

Deployer

1(a)–(e) 1. As used in this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings: (a) "Artificial intelligence" shall have the same meaning as defined by section seventeen hundred of this chapter. (b) "Generative artificial intelligence" shall have the same meaning as defined by section seventeen hundred of this chapter. (c) "Chatbot" shall mean an artificial intelligence system, generative artificial intelligence, software program, or technological application that simulates human-like conversation in response to user inputs and interaction through text messages, voice commands, or a combination thereof to provide information and services to users. (d) "Covered profession" shall mean a profession whose licensure or certification is governed under: (i) articles one hundred thirty-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, or one hundred sixty-three of the education law; (ii) article sixty-one of the education law; or (iii) article fifteen of the judiciary law. (e) "Operator" shall mean any person, partnership, association, firm, or business entity, or any member, affiliate, subsidiary or beneficial owner of any partnership, association, firm, or business entity who owns, operates or deploys a chatbot used to interact with users. The term "operator" shall not include third-party developers that license their chatbot technology to an operator.

2(a)–(b) 1 2. (a) An operator of a chatbot shall not knowingly permit such chatbot to impersonate an actual or fictitious practitioner of a covered profession in a manner that, if done 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 a covered profession; (ii) would constitute (A) a violation of subdivision one of section three thousand nine of the education law prohibiting the application of school moneys to pay the salary of an unqualified teacher or (B) a crime under section three thousand ten of the education law; or (iii) 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) For the purposes of establishing a violation of subparagraph (i) or (iii) of paragraph (a) of this subdivision, an operator shall be deemed to know that a chatbot cannot lawfully practice a covered profession or appear as an attorney-at-law.

2(c)–(d) 1 An operator shall not waive or disclaim liability under this section by notifying consumers that they are interacting with a non-human chatbot system. (d) An operator shall not be liable under this section where the impersonation is a result of a user intentionally circumventing the terms of service or the safeguards implemented by the operator to prevent such impersonation.

3 2 3. Operators 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.

4 4. Whenever the attorney general shall believe from evidence satisfactory to them that an operator has engaged in or is about to engage in any of the acts or practices stated to be unlawful in this section, they may bring an action in the name and on behalf of the people of the state of New York to enjoin an operator from continuing such unlawful acts or practices, and may seek civil penalties of up to fifteen thousand dollars per day for a violation of this section, and may seek such other remedies as the court may deem appropriate.

5 5. The attorney general shall maintain a website to receive complaints, information or referrals from members of the public concerning violations of the provisions of this section.

This new section of the General Business Law targets chatbots that impersonate licensed professionals. It bars an operator from knowingly permitting a chatbot to impersonate an actual or fictitious practitioner of a covered profession — medicine, teaching, and law, among others defined by cross-referenced Education Law and Judiciary Law articles — in any manner that would be criminal or otherwise unlawful if done by a natural person. For the unauthorized-practice and unauthorized-attorney provisions, the operator is deemed to know that a chatbot cannot lawfully practice the profession, creating a near-strict-liability posture.

Critically, an operator cannot escape impersonation liability merely by telling users they are interacting with a non-human chatbot; the AI-disclosure notice and the impersonation prohibition are independent duties. A separate transparency obligation requires clear, conspicuous notice — in the chatbot's language and at a font size no smaller than the largest text on the site — that the user is interacting with an AI chatbot. A narrow safe harbor applies where a user intentionally circumvents the operator's terms of service or safeguards to force the impersonation.

Enforcement runs exclusively through the Attorney General, who may seek injunctive relief and civil penalties up to $15,000 per day, and who must maintain a public complaint website. Third-party developers that merely license chatbot technology are carved out of the operator definition.

Compliance actions 2 items

Operators must not knowingly permit a chatbot to impersonate an actual or fictitious practitioner of a covered profession (medicine, teaching, law, and others) in a manner that would be criminal or unlawful if done by a natural person, and cannot escape liability by disclosing that users are interacting with a non-human chatbot.

CP-01.9

Operators must provide clear, conspicuous, and explicit notice that users are interacting with an AI chatbot, displayed in the chatbot's language and at a font size no smaller than the largest text on the website.

T-01.1

Transparency AI identity disclosure · periodic reminders

1 item

T-01.1