NY State Senate Bill 2025-S7263

Senate Bill S7263

2025-2026 Legislative Session

Imposes liability for damages caused by a chatbot impersonating certain licensed professionals

download bill text pdf

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Internet And Technology Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Apr 07, 2025	referred to internet and technology

2025-S7263 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A6545
Current Committee:: Senate Internet And Technology
Law Section:: General Business Law
Laws Affected:: Add §390-f, Gen Bus L

2025-S7263 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Imposes liability for damages caused by a chatbot impersonating certain licensed professionals.

2025-S7263 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S7263

SPONSOR: GONZALEZ
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the general business law, in relation to imposing
liability for damages caused by a chatbot impersonating certain licensed
professionals

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

This bill would prohibit a chatbot to give substantive responses; infor-
mation, or advice or take any action which, if taken by a natural
person, would constitute unauthorized practice or unauthorized use of a
professional title as a crime in relation to professions who licensure
is governed by the education law or the judiciary law.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1. The general business law is amended to include a new section
§ 390-f that defines artificial intelligence system, chatbot and propri-
etor and prohibits a proprietor of a chatbot to provide any substantive

response, information, or advice, or take any action which, if taken by
a natural person, would constitute a crime under sections 6512 or 6513
of the education law in relation to the professions whose licensure is
governed under articles 131, 133, 135, 136, 137, 139, 141, 143, 145,
147, 153, 154, 163 of the education law, or article 15 of the judiciary
law.

Proprietors may not waive or disclaim this liability by notifying
consumers that they are interacting with a non-human chatbot system.  A
person may bring a civil action to recover damages, and if the proprie-
tor has willfully violated this section, costs, attorney's fees and
other costs of litigation. Proprietors utilizing chatbots shall provide
clear, conspicuous and explicit notice to users that they are interact-
ing with an artificial intelligence chatbot program.

Section 2. Effective date

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Artificial intelligence (A.I.) has changed our world in more ways than
we can imagine and continues to ever-evolve based on societal needs.
A.I. chatbots allow users to create characters that interact with one
another, however, generative A.I., chatbots are "designed to learn from
the user, and to build strong emotional bonds in the process, often by
mirroring and amplifying the interlocutor's beliefs," according to a New
York Times article published on February 24, 2025 titled Human Thera-
pists Prepare for Battle Against A.I.  Pretenders, and described how the
American Psychological Association warned the Federal Trade Commission
that "A.I. chatbots 'masquerading' as therapists, but programmed to
reinforce, rather than challenge a user's thinking, could drive vulner-
able people to harm themselves or others.

The American Psychological Association warned that the bots "failed to
challenge user's beliefs even when they became dangerous; on the contra-
ry they encouraged them," and added that if this advice was given by a
human therapist those answers "could have resulted in the loss of a
license to practice, or civil or criminal liability."
This bill prohibits proprietors of A.I. chatbots from permitting the
chatbot to give substantive responses, information, or advice or take
any action which, if taken by a natural person, would constitute unau-
thorized practice or unauthorized use of a professional title as a crime
in relation to professions whose licensure is governed the education law
and judiciary law. This bill ensures professional advice is provided
only by licensed human professionals and not by artificial intelligence
or chatbots.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

None

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become a law.

2025-S7263 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   7263
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               April 7, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by Sen. GONZALEZ -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Internet and Technology
 
 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-
 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
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD10388-04-5

 S. 7263                             2
 
 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.

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