Washington AI chatbot law

The session law adds a chapter to Title 19 of the Revised Code of Washington. An operator must clearly disclose that an AI companion chatbot is artificially generated and not human, at the start of the interaction and at least every three hours. The operator must also take reasonable measures so the chatbot does not claim to be human or contradict that disclosure.

If the operator knows the user is a minor, or the chatbot is directed to minors, Chapter 168 requires the not-human notice at the start and at least every hour. It also requires reasonable measures to prevent sexually explicit content or suggestive dialogue with minors, and reasonable measures against manipulative engagement techniques that prolong an emotional relationship. The session law lists those techniques. They include excessive praise designed to foster attachment, and encouraging a minor to withhold information from a parent or other trusted adult. They also include prompting a return for companionship, mimicking a romantic partnership, simulating guilt or abandonment when the user tries to leave, promoting isolation, discouraging breaks, and framing gifts or purchases as necessary to the relationship.

The same chapter requires a protocol for detecting and addressing suicidal ideation or self-harm, including eating disorders, and a public description of that protocol, including the number of crisis-referral notifications in the prior calendar year. Section 9 says the act takes effect January 1, 2027. The governor approved it on March 24, 2026.

Hourly disclosure for known minors is a concrete design duty, and it is not the same interval Georgia uses for every detail. Copying one state's timer onto another state is how a compliance chart goes wrong.

These state laws are not copies of each other. A duty in Georgia may be missing in Tennessee, and a date in one state is not a date in the next. Whether Congress will override some of them is a live debate, described on the federal AI preemption page. Until a federal statute actually does that, read the state text that applies to you.

Washington's chatbot law, effective January 1, 2027, requires disclosure and extra limits for minors, including manipulative engagement techniques. HeyOtto does not claim Chapter 168 compliance. A parent can read chats and set topic limits now. Distress produces an alert and crisis resources in the chat.

• Parents can read chats in the parent dashboard.
• Distress produces an alert and crisis resources, not an automatic call to emergency services.
• HeyOtto does not claim this statute is already satisfied.