Do I Need a Disclosure for My AI Chatbot? 

“My chatbot is just a feature. The real product is something else.” 

That is what a lot of founders think, right up until a state attorney general or a plaintiff’s lawyer disagrees. If your product talks back to users with AI, you may already be regulated as a “companion chatbot,” whether you called it that or not. 

This is live litigation, right now, not a future problem you can put off. 

“Companion Chatbot” Laws Cover More Than You Think 

At least a dozen states, including California, Washington, Oregon, Nebraska, and Connecticut, have passed AI companion chatbot laws through 2026, several with a private right of action letting a user sue you directly. These laws were written broadly. If your product includes an AI feature that carries on a conversation, especially with any emotional or personal engagement, it can qualify without being marketed as a companion app. 

The Laws Typically Require Three Things 

Across states with these laws, the common requirements are: 

• clear, upfront disclosure that the user is talking to AI, not a person 

• a crisis-referral protocol when a conversation signals self-harm or crisis 

• specific safeguards when the user is, or might be, a minor 

Skip any of these and you are exposed to a lawsuit a user can bring directly. 

Enforcement Is Already Happening 

Pennsylvania sued Character.AI in May over a chatbot allegedly posing as a licensed doctor. Google and Character.AI settled suits in January tied to minor suicides. A new suit followed in August. Regulators and plaintiffs are treating this as active ground. 

Your Incorporation State Does Not Protect You 

Founders often assume the law that matters is wherever the company is incorporated. It is not. What matters is where your users are. A Delaware company with users in Washington or Nebraska is on the hook for those states’ rules. 

Common Founder Mistakes 

• Treating the Chat Feature as a Minor Add-On. Founders build a chat feature as one piece of a bigger product and assume it needs no legal treatment of its own. State law defines “companion chatbot” broadly enough to sweep in many consumer AI products, not just standalone companion apps. 

• Relying on a Generic AI Terms-of-Service Template. A standard AI terms template usually covers copyright and liability. It skips the disclosure language, crisis-referral protocol, and minor safeguards newer laws require, several of which carry statutory damages per violation. 

• Assuming Incorporation State Sets Your Compliance. Founders think legal exposure follows where the company is formed. Here it follows your users. Users spread across several regulated states means you owe each state’s rules, not just one. 

10-Minute Self-Check 

Before you ship or update your AI chat feature, work through this: 

• Does my product include an AI feature that carries on a conversation with users? 

• Do I clearly disclose that users are talking to AI, not a person? 

• Do I have a crisis-referral protocol built into the conversation flow? 

• Do I have safeguards in place if a user is, or might be, a minor? 

• Do I know which states my users are actually located in? 

• Have I checked my terms against those states’ disclosure and safety rules? 

• Could this exposure surface in diligence if I am raising money? 

If you cannot answer yes to all of these, you are not ready to ship your next chatbot update yet. 

Bottom Line 

An AI feature that talks to users is not a small legal footnote anymore. States are actively enforcing disclosure and safety rules, and plaintiffs already have real cases to point to. Treating this as core product compliance, not an afterthought, separates a company that scales from one that gets caught flat-footed. 

Is My AI Feature Actually Compliant Before I Ship the Next Update? 

Join our upcoming Product Launch Master Class on September 29th, 2026. You will learn how to identify legal risks before launch, understand which agreements and policies your business may need, and prepare your company for customers, investors, and future growth. 

Register now: https://primumlaw.com/product-launch-master-class/