The civic record
Read. Follow. Verify.Connecticut bill regulates AI companion chatbots, establishes regulatory sandbox, and expands state data access for AI
Last action · April 2, 2026: File Number 339Sponsors: REQUEST OF THE GOVERNOR PURSUANT TO JOINT RULE 9 and 1 other
Track this bill to get notified when it advances a stage. One tap to stop, anytime.
What This Bill Proposed
The bill requires operators of AI companion chatbots to disclose when chatbots are not human, establish self-harm prevention and crisis referral protocols, and enforce minor safeguards starting January 1, 2027. It also directs the Chief Data Officer to publish state data useful for AI by January 1, 2028, and requires the Department of Economic and Community Development to plan an AI program by July 1, 2027.
Operators of AI companion chatbots face new operating and annual reporting requirements enforceable by the Attorney General under s laws, while state agencies must inventory and release high-value data for economic development.
Who It Would Have Affected
Groups the bill's text would have affected, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Companion chatbot operators
Operators must implement disclosure notices, self-harm prevention protocols, minor interaction safeguards, and submit annual reports to the Attorney General.
Minor users
Minors receive mandatory AI disclosures, periodic break reminders during continuous chatbot interactions, and protections against sexually explicit content.
Attorney General
The office is tasked with receiving and publishing annual operator reports and solely enforcing violations under unfair trade practices statutes.
Executive branch agencies
Agencies must designate agency data officers, conduct annual inventories of high-value data, and develop open data access plans.
Key Facts
- Companion chatbot operators must clearly and conspicuously disclose to in-state users that the chatbot is artificial and not human if it would mislead a reasonable person.
- Operators must maintain protocols to prevent companion chatbots from providing suicidal ideation or self-harm content and refer users to crisis service providers using evidence-based methods.
- Operators must notify minor users at least once every three continuous hours of interaction that they are interacting with an AI system and to take a break.
- Operators must institute reasonable measures to prevent companion chatbots from providing visual depictions of sexually explicit conduct to minors or telling them to engage in such conduct.
Show all 10 facts
- Operators must prepare and submit an annual report to the Attorney General starting February 1, 2028, disclosing their protocols and crisis referral counts.
- Violations of companion chatbot requirements constitute an unfair trade practice enforced solely by the Attorney General without a private right of action.
- The Chief Data Officer must review the inventory of high-value agency data by January 1, 2028, to identify and publish data useful for artificial intelligence and machine learning.
- The Commissioner of Economic and Community Development must develop a plan for an artificial intelligence regulatory sandbox program allowing temporary testing of innovative products under reduced regulatory requirements.
- The DECD commissioner must submit recommendations for implementing the AI regulatory sandbox program to the Governor and legislative committees by January 1, 2028.
- State agencies that are not executive branch agencies, quasi-public agencies, and municipalities may voluntarily opt to comply with or opt out of the data provisions.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a companion chatbot under the bill?
Are video game characters or internal business chatbots affected by the companion chatbot rules?
Who can enforce violations of the companion chatbot requirements?
What is the purpose of the artificial intelligence regulatory sandbox program?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
Follow the record
Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
This bill did not become law - Died at adjournment · on the Senate floor.
Procedural history
9 actions- Apr 2, 2026Connecticut General AssemblyFile Number 339
- Apr 2, 2026SenateSenate Calendar Number 225
- Apr 2, 2026SenateFavorable Report, Tabled for the Calendar, Senate
- Apr 2, 2026Connecticut General AssemblyReported Out of Legislative Commissioners' Office
- Mar 27, 2026Connecticut General AssemblyReferred to Office of Legislative Research and Office of Fiscal Analysis 04/01/26 5:00 PM
- Mar 17, 2026Connecticut General AssemblyFiled with Legislative Commissioners' Office
Show 3 earlier actions
- Mar 16, 2026Connecticut General AssemblyJoint Favorable Substitute
- Feb 27, 2026Connecticut General AssemblyPublic Hearing 03/04
- Feb 5, 2026Connecticut General AssemblyCommitteeReferred to Joint Committee on General Law
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Establishment of AI-Specific Regulatory and Compliance Framework
The legislation marks a shift toward formal state oversight of emerging AI technologies by merging open data availability with strict consumer safeguards for conversational AI.
Connected Entities
Sources
cga.ct.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance20Lowered because this bill did not pass (its text scored 75)
- Controversy40Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment10Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz65Current news / social attention level
Publisher tools