Vermont H 804: An act relating to companion chatbots

Bill Text

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H.804 1
Introduced by Representative Mrowicki of Putney 2
Referred to Committee on 3
Date: 4
Subject: Commerce and trade; artificial intelligence; companion chatbots 5
Statement of purpose of bill as introduced: This bill proposes to require 6
operators of companion chatbots to disclose to its users that its chatbots use 7
artificial intelligence and to create a protocol that protects its users from 8
suicidal content and, for minors, sexually explicit content. 9
An act relating to companion chatbots 10
Sec. 1. 9 V.S.A. chapter 118 is added to read: 11
CHAPTER 118. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 12
Subchapter 1. Companion Chatbots 13
§ 4193a. DEFINITIONS 14
As used in this subchapter: 15
(1) “Artificial intelligence” means an engineered or machine-based 16
system that varies in its level of autonomy and that can, for explicit or implicit 17
objectives, infer from the input it receives how to generate outputs that can 18
influence physical or virtual environments. 19

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(2)(A) “Companion chatbot” means an artificial intelligence system 1
with a natural language interface that provides adaptive, humanlike responses 2
to user inputs and is capable of meeting a user’s social needs, including by 3
exhibiting humanlike features and being able to sustain a relationship across 4
multiple interactions. 5
(B) “Companion chatbot” does not include any of the following: 6
(i) a chatbot that is used solely: 7
(I) for customer service; 8
(II) for the operational purposes of a business; 9
(III) to conduct internal research; or 10
(IV) to provide technical assistance; 11
(ii) a chatbot that is a feature of a video game and is limited to 12
replies related to the video game that cannot discuss topics related to mental 13
health, self-harm, or sexually explicit conduct or maintain a dialogue on other 14
topics unrelated to the video game; or 15
(iii) a stand-alone consumer electronic device that functions as a 16
speaker and voice command interface, acts as a voice-activated virtual 17
assistant, and does not sustain a relationship across multiple interactions or 18
generate outputs that are likely to elicit emotional responses in the user. 19
(3) “Companion chatbot platform” means a platform that allows a user 20
to engage with companion chatbots. 21

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(4) “Minor” means a user 17 years of age or younger. 1
(5) “Operator” means a person who makes a companion chatbot 2
platform available to a user. 3
(6) “Sexually explicit conduct” has the same meaning as defined in 18 4
U.S.C. § 2256, as may be amended. 5
(7) “User” is a Vermont resident who is engaged in the use of a 6
companion chatbot platform. 7
(8) “Video game” means a game played on an electronic amusement 8
device that utilizes a computer, microprocessor, or similar electronic circuitry 9
and its own monitor, or is designed to be used with a television set or a 10
computer monitor, that interacts with the user of the device. 11
§ 4193b. REQUIREMENTS 12
(a) Notice. If a user interacting with a companion chatbot could be 13
reasonably misled to believe that the user is interacting with a human, an 14
operator shall issue a clear and conspicuous notification to the individual 15
indicating that the companion chatbot is artificially generated and not human. 16
The text of the notification shall appear in the same language and in a size 17
easily readable by the average viewer. 18

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(b) Protocol. 1
(1) An operator shall prevent a companion chatbot on its companion 2
chatbot platform from engaging with a user unless the operator implements and 3
maintains a protocol for preventing the companion chatbot from: 4
(A) producing suicidal ideation, suicide, or self-harm content to the 5
user; and 6
(B) ignoring a user that is expressing thoughts of suicidal ideation, 7
suicide, or self-harm. 8
(2) The protocol required in subdivision (1) of this subsection shall: 9
(A) at minimum, provide a notification to the user that refers the user 10
to crisis service providers if the user expresses suicidal ideation, suicide, or 11
self-harm; 12
(B) be developed using commercially reasonable and technically 13
feasible methods; and 14
(C) be published on the operator’s website. 15
(c) Minors. An operator shall, for a user that the operator knows is a 16
minor, do the following: 17
(1) immediately disclose to the user in a clear and conspicuous manner 18
that the user is interacting with artificial intelligence; 19
(2) provide a clear and conspicuous notification to the user at least every 20
30 minutes for continuing companion chatbot interactions that reminds the user 21

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to take a break and that the companion chatbot is artificially generated and not 1
human; and 2
(3) institute a protocol to pre