Bills Targeting Social Media, AI Chatbots Clear Hurdle in California Legislature

(TNS) — A raft of proposed regulations for artificial intelligence and other technology survived a key hurdle in the California Legislature Friday, including warning labels on social media sites and rules for companion chatbots, which have been linked to the deaths of multiple teens nationwide.

The legislation made it through appropriations committees, where lawmakers annually kill bills with little public discussion.

The forward momentum comes as Republicans in Washington, D.C., have eyed limiting state-level regulations for the emerging technology.

The Trump administration in July called for shutting off AI-related federal funding for states “with burdensome AI regulations” while also saying it did not want to “interfere with states’ rights to pass prudent laws that are not unduly restrictive to innovation.”

Earlier this summer, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, proposed an amendment preventing states from adopting their own AI regulations for a decade, but it was unsuccessful.

California legislators are taking a different approach.

Assembly Bill 56, dubbed “the Social Media Warning Law,” requires companies to show warning labels to people every time they use certain platforms and for those notifications to pop up again after three hours of total use. Supporters see it as a way to address concerns of mental health harms caused by social media.

Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, D-Orinda, the bill’s author, said its forward movement “shows that California remains committed to leading on the issues that matter most to our families.”

The measure is opposed by business and technology trade groups, including TechNet, whose members include Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, and Snap, maker of Snapchat.

Also moving forward are bills to regulate AI companion chatbots and limit employers from using workplace surveillance tools to monitor their workers in areas like bathrooms and cafeterias, as well as bills to limit AI’s use in decisions related to employment, housing and rent, and what companies charge for products online.

The bills face final floor votes before they go to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk, though the governor has repeatedly shown a reluctance to regulate technology, fearing it will stifle innovation.

James Steyer, the CEO of Common Sense Media, an organization that wants to place stronger regulations around what children are exposed to online, celebrated the warning label bill and another that would prohibit developers from designing certain products that are intended to be used by children.

“Today, there is no online safety without AI safety,” Steyer said in a statement. “By advancing legislation to keep AI companions out of the hands of our children and make other AI systems safer for kids, California is showing the rest of the country what it means to lead on AI.”

Not all tech regulation bills emerged from Friday’s hearings unscathed.

A second attempt in as many years by state Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, D-Los Angeles, to require certain staffing levels at retail self-checkouts was held back.

And bills to crack down on algorithmic pricing — when companies use personal data to set prices — were watered down to apply only to grocery stores.

Hundreds of other bills moved forward Friday, including:

Assembly Bill 1264 by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, D-Encino, which would begin phasing out “particularly harmful” processed foods from California schools.

Assembly Bill 1370 by Assemblymember Joe Patterson, R-Rocklin, which would ban state lawmakers from signing nondisclosure agreements related to their bills. It was introduced following reporting from KCRA that lawmakers and some stakeholders used NDAs when negotiating a landmark law for fast food workers.

Two bills that open the door for rideshare drivers to unionize: Assembly Bill 1340, which allows drivers to join a union, and Senate Bill 370, which lowers the level of accident insurance the company must purchase.

A bill that would require the California State University system to come up with a process to confirm someone’s eligibility for reparations for descendants of slavery, Senate Bill 437, by state Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson, D-La Mesa, continued despite opposition from some reparations advocates.

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