AI chatbot regulatory developments: An international comparative analysis and practical takeaways

At first glance, a Matryoshka doll and an artificial intelligence chatbot may seem to have little in common. But the comparison is worth taking seriously. 

Both are built in nested layers with the main difference being that, for a chatbot, those layers don't just sit inside each other; they all apply and are enforceable at once. There are chatbot- and AI-specific laws, privacy and data laws, consumer protection and safety laws — especially for minors — and online platform governance regimes that all continue to evolve and shape the legal landscape.

Specifically in the U.S., a wide array of bills related to AI chatbots and their deployment for different use cases and user interactions — customer support, health services and companion relationships, to name a few — have been enacted at the state level, including in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah and Washington. 

Similarly, federal bills were introduced in the U.S. Congress. These including the bipartisan Guarding U.S. Authority for Removal and Detention Act, which mandates user accounts, age verification measures and AI disclosures, and prohibits the use of AI companion chatbots by verified minors; the Children’s Health, Advancement, Trust, Boundaries, and Oversight in Technology Act, which imposes family accounts for children and parental consent for teens using AI chatbots; and, most recently, the People-First Chatbot Act, which provides rules to ensure data privacy and security, transparency, safety-by-design and specific disclosures for the use of customer service AI chatbots. 

Each of these illustrates the high priority placed on filling regulatory gaps amid rapid AI development involving AI chatbot products, specifically in response to recent lawsuits involving teens and minors forming inappropriate relationships with AI chatbots.