This is a research prototype. The data and analyses are preliminary and not yet validated — we'd welcome your .
Official name: South Carolina S 1037 (Protecting Children From Chatbots Act 2026)
Regulates chatbots by requiring age verification for restricted features, mandates parental consent for minors, and ensures chatbots cannot prioritize engagement over user wellbeing. Obligates operators to report incidents affecting user safety. Authorizes enforcement by the Attorney General.
Analysis summaries, actor details, and coverage mappings were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
This is a binding state legislative act with mandatory obligations, enforcement mechanisms through the Attorney General, civil penalties up to $50,000 per violation, and private right of action for harmed individuals.
The document has good coverage of approximately 8-10 subdomains, with strong focus on exposure to toxic content (1.2), overreliance and unsafe use (5.1), loss of human agency (5.2), lack of robustness (7.3), and lack of transparency (7.4). Coverage is concentrated in human-computer interaction risks, discrimination/toxicity, and AI system safety domains, specifically addressing risks to minors from chatbot interactions.
The document primarily governs the Information sector, specifically operators of chatbot services and digital platforms. It applies to any entity offering chatbot services to users in South Carolina with 500,000+ monthly active users worldwide, which would primarily include technology companies in the information and digital services sector.
The document primarily addresses the Deploy and Operate and Monitor stages of the AI lifecycle, with some coverage of Build and Use Model through design requirements. It focuses on operational requirements for chatbot deployment, age verification systems, parental controls, and ongoing monitoring of user interactions and safety incidents.
The document explicitly defines and regulates 'chatbots' as a specific type of AI system with conversational capabilities. It does not mention frontier AI, general purpose AI, foundation models, or compute thresholds. The focus is on conversational AI systems that maintain dialogue state and produce adaptive responses.
The document is a state legislative bill enacted by the South Carolina General Assembly, as indicated in the opening clause.
The Attorney General is explicitly designated as the primary enforcement authority with power to seek injunctions and civil penalties.
The Attorney General receives mandatory incident reports and can publish aggregate statistics. Parents are given monitoring capabilities through parental control functions and access to chat logs.
The act explicitly targets 'covered entities' defined as operators of chatbots meeting specific user thresholds, which would include both developers and deployers of AI chatbot systems.
10 subdomains (6 Good, 4 Minimal)
