Imposes liability for misleading, incorrect, contradictory or harmful information to a user by a chatbot that results in financial loss or other demonstrable harm.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
10494
IN ASSEMBLY
May 29, 2024
___________
Introduced by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Vanel) --
read once and referred to the Committee on Consumer Affairs and
Protection
AN ACT to amend the general business law, in relation to liability for
false information provided by a chatbot
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The general business law is amended by adding a new section
2 390-f to read as follows:
3 § 390-f. Liability for chatbot responses. 1. As used in this section
4 the following terms shall have the following meanings:
5 (a) "Chatbot" shall mean an artificial intelligence system, software
6 program, or technological application that simulates human-like conver-
7 sation and interaction through text messages, voice commands, or a
8 combination thereof to provide information and services to users.
9 (b) "Proprietor" refers to any person, business, company, organiza-
10 tion, institution or government entity operating with more than twenty
11 employees that owns, operates or deploys a chatbot system used to inter-
12 act with users. Proprietors shall not include third-party developers
13 that license their chatbot technology to a proprietor.
14 2. (a) A proprietor of a chatbot used as an alternative to a human
15 representative, or otherwise as an agent of the proprietor to provide
16 any substantive response, information, advice, or action on behalf of
17 the proprietor may not disclaim liability of any kind where a chatbot
18 provides materially misleading, incorrect, contradictory or harmful
19 information to a user that results in financial loss or other demonstra-
20 ble harm to the user; provided, however, that no such liability shall be
21 imposed where the proprietor has corrected the information and substan-
22 tially or completely cured the harm to the user within thirty days of
23 notice of such harm.
24 (b) The proprietor of a chatbot shall be responsible for ensuring such
25 chatbot accurately provides information aligned with the formal poli-
26 cies, product details, disclosures and terms of service offered to
27 users.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15593-01-4
A. 10494 2
1 (c) A proprietor may not waive or disclaim this liability merely by
2 notifying consumers that they are interacting with a non-human chatbot
3 system.
4 3. Proprietors utilizing chatbots shall provide clear, conspicuous and
5 explicit notice to users that they are interacting with an artificial
6 intelligence chatbot program rather than a human representative. The
7 text of the notice shall appear in the same language and in a size easi-
8 ly readable by the average viewer and no smaller than the largest font
9 size of other text appearing on the website on which the chatbot is
10 utilized.
11 § 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
12 have become a law.
