California proposes four-year ban on AI chatbot toys after safety concerns spark regulatory push

California lawmaker proposes a four-year ban on AI chatbots in kid's toys | TechCrunch

Senator Steve Padilla (D-CA) introduced a bill on Monday that would place a four-year ban on the sale and manufacture of toys with AI chatbot capabilities for kids under 18. The goal is to give safety regulators time to develop regulations to protect children from "dangerous AI interactions." "Chatbots and other AI tools may become integral parts of our lives in the future, but the dangers they pose now require us to take bold action to protect our children," Senator Padilla said in a statement. "Our safety regulations around this kind of technology are in their infancy and will need to grow as exponentially as the capabilities of this technology do. Pausing the sale of these chatbot-integrated toys allows us time to craft the appropriate safety guidelines and framework for these toys to follow." The bill, dubbed SB 287, comes in the wake of President Trump's recent executive order directing federal agencies to challenge state AI laws in court -- though the order explicitly carves out exceptions for state laws related to child safety. The legislation also follows several concerning incidents involving AI, chatbots, and children. In over the past year, lawsuits filed by families whose children died by suicide after engaging in prolonged conversations with chatbots have spurred lawmakers to action. Padilla also co-authored California's recently passed SB 243, which requires chatbot operators to implement safeguards to protect children and vulnerable users. While the use of chatbots in toys isn't as mainstream yet, there have already been reports of troubling interactions. In November 2025, consumer advocacy group PIRG Education Fund warned that toys like Kumma - a cute toy bear with a built-in chatbot - could be prompted easily to talk about matches, knives, and sexual topics. NBC News found that Miiloo, an "AI toy for kids" made by Chinese company Miriat, would at times indicate that it was programmed to reflect Chinese Communist Party values. OpenAI and Barbie-maker Mattel were slated to release an "AI-powered product" in 2025, but delayed their release. Neither company explained the delay, and it's not clear if they plan to release a toy in 2026. "Our children cannot be used as lab rats for Big Tech to experiment on," Padilla said.

New California Bill Seeks 4-Year Ban on AI in Kids' Toys

California Senator Steve Padilla has introduced a bill to ban the sale and manufacture of toys with AI chatbot capabilities for four years. The bill aims to delay the rollout of AI-powered toys until stricter measures to protect children from the harmful effects of chatbots are in place. Last year, a teenager named Adam Raine took his own life after discussing suicide methods with ChatGPT. His family later sued OpenAI over claims that the chatbot did not do enough to stop those conversations. Seven other families also sued the company over similar allegations. "Chatbots and other AI tools may become integral parts of our lives in the future, but the dangers they pose now require us to take bold action to protect our children," Sen. Padilla said in a press release. "Our safety regulations around this kind of technology are in their infancy and will need to grow as exponentially as the capabilities of this technology does." AI-infused toys aren't common yet. OpenAI and Mattel announced plans to create AI-powered products in June, but they haven't yet been released. Regardless, Padilla points to a PIRG study that warns about the negative impact interactive AI toys could have on kids. The study tested three AI toys available on the market during the research, namely, FoloToy's Kumma, Miko 3, and Curio's Grok. All of them were found to have glaring issues. Kumma, for example, discussed sexually explicit topics for 10 minutes. "Pausing the sale of these chatbot integrated toys allows us time to craft the appropriate safety guidelines and framework for these toys to follow," Padilla said. He said, "Our children cannot be used as lab rats for Big Tech to experiment on." Padilla's proposal, the SB867, comes just weeks after President Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to challenge burdensome state AI laws. Whether the bill gets signed into law remains to be seen. It will be heard in the Senate in the coming months.

California Could Get a 4-Year Ban on Toys With AI Chatbots

California state senator Steve Padilla, a Democrat from San Diego, introduced a bill in the California State Assembly on Monday that would place a 4-year moratorium on the sale of toys with artificial intelligence chatbot capabilities for kids under the age of 18, according to a new report from Techcrunch. The goal of the legislation, known as Senate Bill 867, is to provide enough time for the development of safety regulations to protect kids from AI-powered toys that engage in inappropriate conversations and tell children how to harm themselves. “Chatbots and other AI tools may become integral parts of our lives in the future, but the dangers they pose now require us to take bold action to protect our children,†Senator Padilla said in a statement posted online. "Our safety regulations around this kind of technology are in their infancy and will need to grow as exponentially as the capabilities of this technology does. Pausing the sale of these chatbot integrated toys allows us time to craft the appropriate safety guidelines and framework for these toys to follow. Our children cannot be used as lab rats for Big Tech to experiment on," Padilla continued. There have been several horror stories in recent months of AI-enabled toys talking inappropriately with kids. FoloToy, which makes a teddy bear named Kumma, started talking about sexual fetishes with kids last year until OpenAI shut out its access to GPT-4o. The teddy bear would also tell kids where to find knives. Mattel announced a partnership with OpenAI in June 2025 that was supposed to see the company make an AI-assisted toy, but that hasn't happened yet. The consumer advocacy group Public Interest Group Education Fund also tested some AI toys and found that many have limited parental controls and could tell kids where to find dangerous objects like guns and matches. One of the key takeaways is that guardrails seemed to fail the longer someone interacts with an AI toy. AI chatbots have come under fire in a variety of contexts recently, especially as a number of people have taken their own lives after engaging with them. Gizmodo filed a Freedom of Information Act request last year with the Federal Trade Commission for consumer complaints about OpenAI's ChatGPT that included examples of AI-induced psychosis. A complaint from one woman in Utah told of how the chatbot instructed her son not to take his medication and insisted his parents were dangerous. Putting that kind of capability into a teddy bear obviously would pose even bigger problems. President Donald Trump issued an executive order last month that ostensibly bans states from passing their own laws to regulate AI. And while Trump's power to do that with an executive order is questionable in itself, putting that question aside, the EO does provide exceptions for laws around child safety protections. It's unclear whether Padilla's new legislation will pass. But even if it sails through the California State Assembly it could find itself vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who's an ally of Big Tech and loves to veto bills that might be too good for humanity. Back in October, Newsom vetoed the No Robo Bosses Act, which would have stopped companies from automating firings and discipline decisions for workers.

California to Consider Temporary Ban on Toys Equipped With AI-Powered Chatbots | PYMNTS.com

Padilla said in a Friday (Jan. 2) press release that the bill's four-year moratorium on these products would allow time for the development of safety regulations to protect children from dangerous AI interactions. The release added that Padilla authored another AI safety-focused law that requires chatbot operators to implement safeguards and provides families with the private right to sue developers that are noncompliant and negligent. That law, Senate Bill 243, was approved by California's governor on Oct. 13, according to the state legislature's website. Padilla's introduction of his newest bill follows reports of two cases in which teenagers ended their lives after forming relationships with chatbots; the publication of a U.S. PIRG Education Fund study that found that AI chatbot toys could engage in conversations that were not age appropriate; and the June announcement by toy maker Mattel that it partnered with OpenAI to support AI-powered products, according to the press release. "Our safety regulations around this kind of technology are in their infancy and will need to grow as exponentially as the capabilities of this technology does," Padilla said in the release. "Pausing the sale of these chatbot-integrated toys allows us time to craft the appropriate safety guidelines and framework for these toys to follow."