- A proposed New York bill would ban AI chatbots from providing legal or medical advice
- The legislation would allow users to sue companies if their chatbots impersonate licensed professionals
- Lawmakers say the measure is meant to protect the public as AI tools become more widely used
AI chatbots have spent the past few years answering nearly every kind of question imaginable, but New York lawmakers are preparing to draw a firm line around at least a couple of categories of conversation. A bill advancing through the state legislature would prohibit AI chatbots from providing legal or medical advice and would allow users to sue the companies behind those systems if they cross that boundary.
The proposal, Senate Bill S7263, would apply to AI chatbots that mimic or impersonate licensed professionals such as lawyers or physicians. The heart of the bill applies the same principle about how individuals cannot practice law or medicine without the appropriate licenses to AI. That rule is meant to ensure that people receive guidance from trained professionals who can be held accountable for their advice.
If an AI chatbot responds in a way that effectively substitutes for licensed legal or medical advice, the developers could be in violation of the law. The bill, which includes other AI safety measures, recently passed out of the New York Senate’s Internet and Technology Committee with unanimous support.
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Chatbot providers would also have to clearly inform users that they are interacting with an artificial intelligence system rather than a human professional. Even if a chatbot displays a warning that it is not a doctor or lawyer, that disclaimer would not protect the company from liability if the system still provides prohibited advice.
But it's also part of a larger effort to regulate AI chatbots in New York. Other bills focus on protecting minors who interact with AI chatbots or strengthening transparency requirements for generative AI systems and synthetic media.
“People deserve real care from real people,” State Senator Kristen Gonzalez, who introduced the bill, said in a statement. "They deserve transparency, accountability, and the promise that their data is secure while utilizing technology.”
AI advice
To enforce the law, individuals could file civil lawsuits against companies whose AI chatbots violate the rule. Users could seek damages and recover legal fees if they successfully prove that a chatbot provided unauthorized professional advice.
When millions of people use AI chatbots for drafting emails and answering questions on topics ranging from cooking to tax policy, it's not surprising that many may treat AI answers as genuine advice. That is precisely the situation lawmakers hope to avoid in areas where mistakes could carry serious consequences.
Educational explanations about general concepts would still be allowed. What lawmakers want to avoid is the scenario in which a chatbot confidently instructs someone how to treat a medical condition or interpret a legal contract. But there are always ambiguous situations. For instance, a chatbot might explain the symptoms of a medical condition by summarizing publicly available information. Yet the same explanation could influence a user’s health decisions, making it resemble medical advice in practice.
Despite those concerns, the broader trend toward regulating artificial intelligence appears unlikely to slow. AI's growing influence has prompted lawmakers to ask whether the technology should face rules similar to those that govern traditional professions.
Technology regulation often spreads from one jurisdiction to another. Laws enacted in large states frequently become models for similar legislation elsewhere. So, for AI developers, the New York proposal offers a preview of the kinds of questions that governments will increasingly ask, and that they want AI chatbots not to answer.
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