SB540: SB540 Online Internet Safety; certain disclosures related to conversational AI services; require

AI companion chatbots are programs designed to simulate ongoing personal relationships with users, remembering past conversations and asking emotional questions. Georgia law currently has no specific rules for these chatbots. This bill adds a new section to the state's online internet safety law (O.C.G.A. Chapter 5 of Title 39) that requires operators to tell users they are talking to a chatbot rather than a person, at the start of each session and periodically afterward, more frequently if the user is a minor. The bill also requires operators to prevent chatbots from generating sexual content involving minors, simulating romantic relationships with minors, or encouraging self-harm or isolation. Operators must adopt a crisis-response protocol for suicide or self-harm signs, offer parental controls, use age verification before showing sexually explicit content, and limit how long they keep data collected for that verification. The Attorney General can sue violators for civil penalties, and the law takes effect July 1, 2027.

• Requires operators of AI companion chatbots to disclose that users are interacting with a bot, at the start of sessions and every one to three hours depending on whether the user is a minor.
• Bans chatbots from generating sexual content, romantic role-play, or statements sexually objectifying minors when the operator knows or should know the user is a minor.
• Requires operators to adopt a crisis-response protocol for detecting suicide, self-harm, or eating-disorder indicators and refer users to resources like the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
• Requires age verification before allowing access to features that could generate sexually explicit content, with limits on how long identity data used for verification can be kept.
• Requires operators to offer parental controls letting parents or minors manage privacy settings, notifications, and relationship-simulation features.
• Allows the Attorney General to sue operators for violations, seeking civil penalties up to $10,000 per knowing violation plus damages and attorney's fees.

Companies that develop or operate AI companion chatbots made available to Georgia users, minors who use these chatbots, parents and guardians of minor users, licensed mental health and counseling professionals who may use such chatbots professionally, and the Attorney General's office, which would enforce the new rules.

If enacted, Georgia users, especially minors, interacting with AI companion apps would get more frequent reminders they are talking to software, tighter limits on sexual or emotionally manipulative content, and a required response system for signs of self-harm, changing how these apps operate day to day in the state.

• The new Code Section 39-5-6(a) defines 'AI companion chatbot' broadly but excludes internal business tools, customer service bots, video game characters, and narrowly tailored educational tools.
• Subsection (b) requires disclosure that the user is talking to a bot at the start of each session and every three hours, or every hour if the user is known to be a minor.
• Subsection (d) prohibits chatbots from producing sexually explicit material, simulating romantic relationships with minors, or encouraging secrecy from trusted adults when the user is a minor.
• Subsection (f) requires operators to maintain a protocol for detecting severe harm, including automated referrals to crisis resources like the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
• Subsection (j) requires commercially reasonable age verification before granting access to sexually explicit content features, and bars selling data collected for that purpose.
• Subsection (k) lets the Attorney General bring civil actions for penalties up to $10,000 per knowing violation, treating each day of violation as a separate offense, with a possible 30-day cure period for first-time non-egregious violations.
• Section 2 sets the effective date as July 1, 2027.

1. 2026-05-11Effective Date 2027-07-01
2. 2026-05-11Act 518
3. 2026-05-11Senate Date Signed by Governor (Senate)
4. 2026-04-10Senate Sent to Governor (Senate)
5. 2026-03-27Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub (Senate)
6. 2026-03-25House Passed/Adopted By Substitute (House)
7. 2026-03-25House Third Readers (House)
8. 2026-03-25House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)

• Jason Anavitarte (R, SD-031)Primary sponsor
• Larry Walker (R, SD-020)
• Shawn Still (R, SD-048)
• Brian Strickland (R, SD-042)
• Ben Watson (R, SD-001)
• Marty Harbin (R, SD-016)
• Jason T. Dickerson (R, SD-021)
• Timothy Bearden (R, SD-030)
• Todd Jones (R, HD-025)

1. PassedSenate voteMarch 6, 2026

   54 yea, 0 nay (1 not voting, 0 absent)

   Passage By Substitute: Senate Vote #660

2. PassedHouse voteMarch 25, 2026

   166 yea, 0 nay (2 not voting, 8 absent)

   Passage: House Vote #765

3. PassedSenate voteMarch 27, 2026

   44 yea, 1 nay (2 not voting, 7 absent)

   Agree To House Substitute: Senate Vote #857

• AI chatbots
• online safety for minors
• internet privacy
• mental health resources
• consumer protection