First-In-Nation AI Toy Moratorium Moves to Governor’s Desk
SACRAMENTO – Last night, the California State Legislature approved Senate Bill 867, authored by Senator Steve Padilla (D-San Diego). This first-in-the-nation legislation places a 4-year moratorium on the sale and manufacturing of toys with artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot capabilities for children under 16.
Recently, the market has been flooded with toys such as teddy bears that are powered by the same technology running chatbots such as Grok. Unfortunately, numerous examples have illustrated that these toys do not have the proper safety guardrails in place to be appropriate for the children they are marketed to. Researchers have found that AI toys will talk in-depth about sexually explicit topics, give kids advice on where to find dangerous objects such as matches or knives, promote increased usage through addictive features, and pose data privacy risks.
“Parents rely on consumer safety laws to ensure their children’s toys are safe,” said Senator Padilla. “We need to apply those same standards to the technology being incorporated into their toys. SB 867 hits the pause button to allow the proper the time to get these protections right.”
California has some of the strictest toy safety laws in the nation that protect children from a myriad of physical harms such as exposure to toxic substances and choking hazards. SB 867 proposes a moratorium on the sale and manufacturing of toys with AI chatbot capabilities for children under 18 for a period of four years to allow time for us to modernize our laws for the digital age.
SB 867 is sponsored by Children Now.
"AI-powered toys without safety guardrails have the potential to do serious damage to our youngest kids," said Ted Lempert, President of Children Now. "This Pro-Kid bill gives California time to get safety standards right before AI-powered toys reach our children."
SB 867 proposes a moratorium on the sale and manufacturing of toys with AI chatbot capabilities for children under 16 for a period of four years to allow time for lawmakers to modernize frameworks before making an entirely new class of products available to children.
SB 867 passed the Senate unanimously and the Assembly with bipartisan support 74-1. The bill now heads to Governor Newsom’s desk for his signature.
Read more on SB 867 and the issue of unregulated AI toys, click here.
Steve Padilla represents the 18th Senate District, which includes the communities of Chula Vista, the Coachella Valley, Imperial Beach, the Imperial Valley, National City, and San Diego. Prior to his election to the Senate in 2022, Senator Padilla was the first person of color ever elected to city office in Chula Vista, the first Latino Mayor, and the first openly LGBT person to serve or be elected to city office. Website of Senator Steve Padilla: https://sd18.senate.ca.gov/