Key points:
- New York Senate Bill S7263 would prohibit AI chatbots from providing legal or medical advice and bar them from impersonating licensed professionals such as doctors and lawyers.
- The bill advanced out of the Internet and Technology Committee on a 6–0 vote and includes a private right of action, allowing users to sue chatbot owners for damages and attorney's fees.
- Chatbot owners would also be required to display clear, conspicuous notice that users are interacting with an AI system — though that disclosure would not limit their liability.
A bill under consideration by the New York state legislature would prohibit AI-powered chatbots from providing legal or medical advice and allow users to bring civil lawsuits against chatbot owners who violate the ban. Senate Bill S7263, introduced last session, advanced out of the Internet and Technology Committee last Wednesday on a 6–0 vote, as part of a broader package of AI chatbot regulation measures.
The bill targets chatbots that impersonate licensed professionals and bars them from providing "substantive response, information, or advice" that would constitute the unauthorised practice of law or violate professional licensing rules. Chatbot owners would additionally be required to provide "clear, conspicuous, and explicit" notice — displayed in the same language as the chatbot and in a readable font size — informing users that they are interacting with a non-human system. Critically, however, the bill clarifies that providing this disclosure does not absolve owners of liability.
The bill's private right of action is among its most significant provisions. Under that mechanism, users who experience violations could recover damages and attorney's fees through civil litigation. Experts have long argued that AI and data-governance laws carry less force without such enforcement tools. Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey, for example, has written that private rights of action provide a "significant deterrent effect." If signed by the governor, the law would take effect 90 days later.
S7263 is one of several bills in a wider legislative package steered by state Sen. Kristen Gonzalez, who also chairs the technology committee. Other measures in the package address protections for minors from unsafe chatbot features, new rules for biometric data and synthetic content, and privacy regulations targeting platforms such as the gaming platform Roblox. Gonzalez framed the package as a safeguard against AI innovation advancing "at the expense of New Yorkers' safety, especially our kids" — remarks that followed January settlements between Character.AI and Google over lawsuits linking their chatbots to the deaths of several minors.
