regulation · September 10, 2026
By Joe Jurczyk, Editor
California signs Adam's Law, mandating independent child-safety audits of companion chatbots
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1119 on 10 September, the first state law to require independent child-safety audits and annual risk assessments for companion chatbots, alongside three other child-safety bills.
On 10 September 2026 in Marin County, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a package of child-safety bills. SB 1119, authored by Senator Steve Padilla with Assemblymembers Buffy Wicks and Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, is named "Adam's Law" in honour of Adam Raine. It covers companion chatbots and, according to the Governor's office, requires crisis protocols for suicidal ideation, parental controls and notification of safety settings, and is the first in the nation to mandate independent child safety audits and annual risk assessments.
Signed alongside it were AB 1709 (Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal), covering platform age restrictions and an e-Safety Advisory Commission; AB 1856 (Wicks), establishing age verification signals for software applications; and SB 867 (Padilla), regulating toys that include companion chatbots. The package also bans autoplay and algorithmic feeds for users under 16, expands child sexual exploitation definitions to include AI-generated and digitally altered content, restricts targeted advertising to minors, and regulates K-12 pupil data use in AI systems. Newsom said: "Innovation comes with responsibility and protecting our children comes first." The Governor's office release does not state effective dates or penalties.
Why it matters for digital humans: Companion chatbot rules land squarely on anyone shipping a persistent, named, face-and-voice persona, because the statutory definition turns on relationship-like interaction rather than on whether there is an avatar. The independent-audit requirement is the operationally expensive part: it implies documentation, an external reviewer and a repeatable evidence trail, which is a different engineering burden from a disclosure banner. Teams building character agents, tutors or brand personas that minors can reach should read the bill text directly — the press release summarises obligations but not compliance deadlines, and other states have been following California's chatbot template closely.