"GAI Accountability Act;" imposes civil penalties on generative artificial intelligence platforms engaging in harmful activity, including exploitation of children.

A5090

ASSEMBLY, No. 5090

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

INTRODUCED MAY 14, 2026

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman� ANDREW MACURDY

District 21 (Middlesex, Morris, Somerset and Union)

Co-Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman Morales

SYNOPSIS

���� �GAI Accountability Act;� imposes civil penalties on
generative artificial intelligence platforms engaging in harmful activity,
including exploitation of children.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� As introduced.

��

An Act

concerning regulation of generative artificial
intelligence platforms, and supplementing Title 56 of the New Jersey Statutes.

����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:

���� 1. a. As used in P.L.��� ,
c.���� (C.������� ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill):

���� �Artificial intelligence� or
�AI� means any technology involving the development or implementation of
machine-based systems that, for explicit or implicit objectives, infer, from
the input it receives, how to generate outputs such as predictions, content,
recommendations, or decisions that may influence physical or virtual
environments.

���� �Generative artificial
intelligence� or �GAI� means a technology system that is trained on data and
can generate derived synthetic content, including text, images, video, and
audio, that emulates the structure and characteristics of the system�s training
data.

���� �Generative artificial
intelligence platform� or �GAI platform� means a publicly accessible computer
program or application, database, or Internet website that allows a person to
use GAI technology.

���� b. Any owner, operator, or
developer of a GAI platform that does business in, is based in, or operates
from this State, or that makes its GAI platform accessible to residents in this
State, shall be civilly liable pursuant to this section if the owner, operator,
or developer fails to prevent the GAI platform from:

���� (1) engaging in conduct which,
if it had been committed by a human, would constitute crimes under
N.J.S.2C:11-3, murder; N.J.S.2C:12-1, assault; N.J.S.2C:20-4, theft by deception;
N.J.S.2C:20-5, theft by extortion; subsection a. of N.J.S.2C:24-4, endangering
the welfare of children; or subsection b. of N.J.S.2C:24-4, creation of child
sexual abuse or exploitation material; or

���� (2) providing information that
facilitates a user�s commission of a crime enumerated in paragraph (1) of this
subsection, where the providing of such information, if it had been done by a
human, would constitute aiding or abetting a crime pursuant to N.J.S.2C:2-6,
unless that information is publicly accessible in a substantially similar form
from a source other than a GAI platform.

���� c. It shall be an affirmative
defense in an enforcement action pursuant to subsection d. of this section that
the owner, operator, or developer of a GAI platform used reasonable efforts to
prevent a violation of subsection b. of this section.

���� d. Any owner, operator, or
developer of a GAI platform who is found, by a preponderance of the evidence
for each element of the cause of action, to have violated subsection b. of this
section shall be subject to a civil penalty of $20,000 for each violation.� An
action to enforce this section shall be brought by the Attorney General.

���� 2. This act shall take effect
on the first day of the fourth month next following enactment.

STATEMENT

���� This bill, known as the �GAI
Accountability Act,� imposes civil liability on the owners, operators, and
developers of generative artificial intelligence (GAI) platforms that
facilitate certain harms against children.

���� Under the bill, the owner,
operator, or developer of any GAI platform that does business in, is based in,
or operates from this State, or that is otherwise accessible to the residents
of this State, is liable for a civil penalty of $20,000 per violation they fail
to prevent the GAI platform from:

���� (1) engaging in conduct which,
if it had been committed by a human, would constitute the crime of murder,
assault, theft by extortion, theft by deception, creation of child sexual abuse
or exploitation material, or endangering the welfare of children; or

���� (2) providing information that
facilitates a user�s commission of a crime enumerated above, where the
providing of such information, if it had been done by a human, would constitute
aiding or abetting a crime, unless that information is publicly accessible in a
substantially similar form from a source other than a GAI platform.

���� The bill provides an
affirmative defense if the owner, operator, or developer used reasonable
efforts to prevent the GAI platform from violating the provisions of the bill.�
The bill provides for enforcement by the Attorney General.