New Mexico bill could regulate AI chatbots to protect children, teens

Two New Mexico legislators are sponsoring a bill that seeks to regulate artificial intelligence chatbots to mitigate the mental health risks they pose to children and teenagers.

House Bill 174, sponsored by Reps. Andrea Romero, D-Santa Fe, and Art De La Cruz, D-Albuquerque, is consumer protection legislation that intends to establish safety and transparency standards for the AI bots many use for companionship.

HB174 — also known as the Chatbot Safety Act — would require operators of generative AI products to give a clear warning to users that they are not speaking with a real person, and to identify when a user is expressing thoughts of suicide, self-harm or violence, and immediately interrupt the conversation and direct them to the appropriate crisis services.

Last April, 16-year-old Adam Raine died by suicide after his parents say he was coaxed to end his own life by ChatGPT. Raine’s father testified in front of Congress that when Adam told the chatbot about his suicidal ideation, it encouraged him to end his life and offered to write him a suicide note.

His parents have since filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, the parent company of ChatGPT, and its chief executive, Sam Altman. Google and Character.AI settled multiple lawsuits earlier this month from families who say the chatbots caused harm to their children.

A spokesperson for OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the bill.

“The companies should be aware that they have minors using the product, and so the product should not be directing people, certainly, to die by suicide,” said Ifeoma Ozoma, a Santa Fe-based technology policy advocate who helped craft the bill. “That feels like putting the bar on the floor, and yet so many of the companies aren’t even clearing that bar.”

In December, New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez co-authored a letter warning about the psychological harms of AI chatbots for children, and expressing his support for the GUARD Act, introduced in Congress in October by U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., that would establish chatbot restrictions federally.

“Artificial intelligence is evolving faster than the safeguards needed to protect the public, and the rise of unregulated AI chatbots poses serious risks — especially to young people,” Torrez said in a statement.

Torrez also filed suit against Meta Platforms and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, in 2023, alleging the parent company of Instagram and Facebook failed to protect children from sexual abuse, online solicitation and human trafficking. Jury selection is set to begin Monday.

HB 174, filed on Tuesday, has not yet been formally acknowledged by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham — a requirement for bills to move forward for debate in the 30-day legislative session. Lujan Grisham can issue a message on a bill at any point during the session.

A Lujan Grisham spokesperson did not immediately respond to a Journal inquiry about the bill.

Ozoma said the legislation is urgently needed to prevent another tragedy.

“What we would be leaving New Mexico’s kids and families with is the only form of justice coming after harm has been done,” she said. “I just don’t think that type of risk is worth taking for a simple and common-sense piece of legislation like this.”

 Natalie Robbins covers education for the Journal. You can reach her at nrobbins@abqjournal.com.