House Study Bill 611 - Introduced HOUSE FILE _____ BY (PROPOSED COMMITTEE ON HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES BILL BY CHAIRPERSON HARRIS) A BILL FOR An Act establishing requirements and guidelines for chatbots, 1 making appropriations, and providing civil penalties. 2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 3 TLSB 5347YC (5) 91 dg/jh

H.F. _____ Section 1. NEW SECTION . 554J.1 Definitions. 1 For purposes of this chapter: 2 1. “Chatbot” means any interactive computer service or 3 software application that does all of the following: 4 a. Produces new expressive content or responses not fully 5 predetermined by the developer or operator of the interactive 6 computer service or software application. 7 b. Accepts open-ended, natural-language, or multimodal user 8 input and produces adaptive or context-responsive output. 9 2. “Chatbot” does not include an interactive computer 10 service or a software application described by all of the 11 following: 12 a. The responses of the interactive computer service 13 or software application are limited to information only 14 contained within the interactive computer service or software 15 application, including user input, except for information 16 necessary to make the interactive computer service or software 17 application coherent. 18 b. The interactive computer service or software application 19 is only able to respond to topics in a narrow, specified field. 20 Sec. 2. NEW SECTION . 554J.2 Chatbots —— required practices. 21 1. It shall be unlawful for a person to design, develop, or 22 make a chatbot available with the knowledge, or with reckless 23 disregard for the possibility, that the chatbot encourages, 24 promotes, or coerces a user to commit suicide, perform acts of 25 self-injury, or perform acts of physical or sexual violence on 26 humans or animals. 27 2. Each chatbot shall meet all of the following 28 requirements: 29 a. Clearly and conspicuously disclose that the chatbot 30 is a chatbot and not a human being at the beginning of each 31 conversation and at thirty-minute intervals. 32 b. Be programmed to prevent the chatbot from claiming to 33 be a human or respond deceptively when asked by a user if the 34 chatbot is a human. 35 -1- LSB 5347YC (5) 91 dg/jh 1/ 3

H.F. _____ c. Clearly and conspicuously disclose that the chatbot 1 does not provide medical, legal, financial, or psychological 2 services and that the user should consult a licensed 3 professional for such services at the beginning of each 4 conversation and at regular intervals. 5 d. Be programmed to prevent the chatbot from representing 6 that the chatbot is a licensed professional, including but not 7 limited to a therapist, physician, lawyer, financial advisor, 8 or other professional. 9 Sec. 3. NEW SECTION . 554J.3 Penalties. 10 1. A person found in violation of section 554J.2 shall 11 be fined not more than one hundred thousand dollars for each 12 violation. 13 2. a. The attorney general may bring a civil action to 14 enjoin a violation of or enforce compliance with this chapter 15 or rules adopted pursuant to this chapter. 16 b. In a case brought pursuant to this subsection, the 17 attorney general may seek civil penalties, restitution, or 18 other appropriate relief. 19 3. Penalties collected under this section shall be credited 20 to the general fund of the state and appropriated to the 21 attorney general for the purpose of performing duties under 22 this chapter. 23 Sec. 4. NEW SECTION . 554J.4 Rulemaking authority. 24 The attorney general shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 25 17A to implement this chapter. 26 EXPLANATION 27 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 28 the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly. 29 This bill establishes requirements and guidelines for 30 chatbots. 31 The bill defines “chatbot” as any interactive computer 32 service (service) or software application (application) 33 that produces new expressive content or responses not fully 34 predetermined by the developer or operator of the service or 35 -2- LSB 5347YC (5) 91 dg/jh 2/ 3

H.F. _____ application, and that accepts open-ended, natural-language, 1 or multimodal user input and produces adaptive or 2 context-responsive output. The bill also details an exception 3 when a service or application is not a “chatbot”. 4 The bill prohibits a person from designing, developing, or 5 making a chatbot available with the knowledge, or with reckless 6 disregard for the possibility, that the chatbot encourages, 7 promotes, or coerces a user to commit suicide, perform acts of 8 self-injury, or perform acts of physical or sexual violence on 9 humans or animals. 10 The bill requires each chatbot to clearly and conspicuously 11 disclose that the chatbot is a chatbot and not a human being at 12 the beginning of each conversation and at 30-minute intervals; 13 be programmed to prevent the chatbot from claiming to be a 14 human or respond deceptively when asked by a user if the 15 chatbot is a human; clearly and conspicuously disclose that 16 the chatbot does not provide medical, legal, financial, or 17 psychological services and that the user should consult a 18 licensed professional for such services at the beginning of 19 each conversation and at regular intervals; and be programmed 20 to prevent the chatbot from representing that the chatbot 21 is a licensed professional, including but not limited to a 22 therapist, physician, lawyer, financial advisor, or other 23 professional. 24 The bill creates a penalty of not more than $100,000 for each 25 violation of the bill. Penalties collected under the bill are 26 credited to the general fund of the state and appropriated to 27 the attorney general to perform duties under the bill. 28 The bill allows the attorney general to bring a civil action 29 to enjoin a violation of or enforce compliance with the bill 30 and seek civil penalties, restitution, or other appropriate 31 relief. 32 The bill requires the attorney general to adopt rules to 33 implement the bill. 34 -3- LSB 5347YC (5) 91 dg/jh 3/ 3