Overview
- California’s Democratic legislature passed more than two dozen AI and social media bills, including SB 1119, on Tuesday and the measures now await Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decision.
- SB 1119 would require platforms to verify or estimate user age, perform risk assessments before launch, and commission independent audits of services used by 13–17 year olds.
- The bill would impose automatic protections for identified 13–17 year olds such as blocking self‑harm and sexually exploitative content, offering parental controls, integrating crisis‑support links, and limiting targeted advertising and data use.
- OpenAI publicly endorsed SB 1119 in an August 31 letter and CEO Sam Altman directly urged Newsom to sign, saying the company already applies age‑based safeguards and memory controls in products aimed at teens.
- Major implementation questions remain — how to do reliable age estimation, what audit standards will apply, and how liability rules will be enforced — and those uncertainties could raise costs for startups and reshape how chatbots preserve memory and tutoring features before an effective date reported as July 1, 2027.