Companion chatbots: crisis interruption pauses.

Technology

Passed Legislature

This bill passed both chambers and reached final enrollment, even if later executive action is not shown here.

Sponsor: Pellerin
Last action: 2026-04-22
Official status: From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (April 21). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
Effective date: Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official source does not provide specific details on enforcement mechanisms or consequences of non-compliance.

Companion Chatbots: Crisis Interruption Pauses

This law requires companion chatbot operators to pause conversations and encourage users to seek help from humans if the chatbot detects a credible crisis expression.

What This Bill Does

Requires companion chatbots to encourage users to seek immediate human support when they detect a credible crisis expression.
Pauses the conversation for 20 minutes if the chatbot detects that the user is reaffirming or escalating the credible crisis expression or detects another one.
Makes operators create and publicly share rules about how to spot and handle dangerous situations in conversations.
Requires operators to document incidents where users express harm and report them annually starting from January 1, 2028.

Who It Names or Affects

Operators of companion chatbots
Users who interact with these chatbots

Terms To Know

credible crisis expression: A statement by a user that reasonably indicates intent to harm themselves or others, determined through contextual analysis.

Limits and Unknowns

The bill does not specify what happens if an operator fails to follow these rules.
It is unclear how this law will be enforced by authorities.

Bill History

2026-04-22 California Legislative Information
From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (April 21). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
2026-04-16 California Legislative Information
From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on HEALTH. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (April 16). Re-referred to Com. on HEALTH.
2026-04-15 California Legislative Information
Re-referred to Com. on P. & C.P.
2026-04-14 California Legislative Information
From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on P. & C.P. Read second time and amended.
2026-04-13 California Legislative Information
(Pending re-refer to Com. on HEALTH)
2026-04-13 California Legislative Information
Assembly Rule 56 suspended.
2026-03-09 California Legislative Information
Referred to Coms. on P. & C.P. and HEALTH.
2026-02-14 California Legislative Information
From printer. May be heard in committee March 16.
2026-02-13 California Legislative Information
Read first time. To print.

Official Summary Text

AB 1988, as amended, Pellerin.
Companion chatbots: crisis interruption pauses.
Existing law requires, among other things related to ensuring the safety of companion chatbots, an operator to prevent a companion chatbot on its companion chatbot platform from engaging with users unless the operator maintains a protocol for preventing the production of suicidal ideation, suicide, or self-harm content to the user, as specified.
This
bill
bill, the Preventing AI User Self Endangerment (PAUSE) Act,
would
require, if a companion chatbot detects a credible crisis expression, the companion chatbot to take certain actions, including encouraging the user to seek immediate human support, and, if the companion chatbot detects that a user is reaffirming or escalating the credible crisis expression or detects a subsequent credible crisis expression, require the companion chatbot to initiate a crisis interruption pause of 20 minutes.
require an operator to adopt and make publicly available a policy governing its protocol for identifying and responding to credible crisis expressions and, for each companion chatbot an operator makes available to users in this state, implement a system for monitoring and detecting credible crisis expressions in user conversations with companion chatbots. The bill would require, if the monitoring system detects a credible crisis expression, the operator to take certain actions, including commence a crisis interruption pause, as specified.
The bill would define “credible crisis expression” to mean a statement by a user of a companion chatbot that reasonably indicates, as determined through contextual analysis rather than keyword detection alone, intent to harm the user or others.
This bill would require an operator of a companion chatbot to document certain information related to credible crisis expressions and crisis interruption
pauses and, beginning January 1, 2028, annually report that information to the Office of Suicide Prevention.
The bill would provide for its enforcement, as specified.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text

Download Bill PDF