AI systems/suicide liability

AN ACT Relating to establishing civil liability for suicide 1
linked to the use of artificial intelligence systems; adding a new 2
section to chapter 4.20 RCW; adding a new chapter to Title 19 RCW; 3
and prescribing penalties. 4
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:5
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The definitions in this section apply 6
throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires 7
otherwise.8
(1) "Artificial intelligence" means an engineered or machined-9
based system that varies in its level of autonomy and that can, for 10
explicit or implicit objectives, infer from the input it receives how 11
to generate outputs that can influence physical or virtual 12
environments. 13
(2)(a) "Companion chatbot" means an artificial intelligence 14
system with a natural language interface that provides adaptive, 15
human-like responses to user inputs and is capable of meeting a 16
user's social needs, including by exhibiting anthropomorphic features 17
and being able to sustain a relationship across multiple 18
interactions. 19
(b) "Companion chatbot" does not include any of the following:20
S-3468.1
SENATE BILL 5870
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2026 Regular Session
By Senators Wellman, Shewmake, Frame, Hasegawa, Nobles, Orwall,
Pedersen, Riccelli, Saldaña, and Slatter
Prefiled 12/11/25. Read first time 01/12/26. Referred to Committee
on Environment, Energy & Technology.
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(i) A bot that is used only for customer service, a business' 1
operational purposes, productivity and analysis related to source 2
information, internal research, or technical assistance;3
(ii) A bot that is a feature of a video game and is limited to 4
replies related to the video game that cannot discuss topics related 5
to mental health, self-harm, sexually explicit conduct, or maintain a 6
dialogue on other topics unrelated to the video game; or7
(iii) A stand-alone consumer electronic device that functions as 8
a speaker and voice command interface, acts as a voice-activated 9
virtual assistant, and does not sustain a relationship across 10
multiple interactions or generate outputs that are likely to elicit 11
emotional responses in the user. 12
(3) "Companion chatbot platform" means a platform that allows a 13
user to engage with companion chatbots. 14
(4) "Department" means the department of health.15
(5) "Operator" means a person who makes a companion chatbot 16
platform available to a user in this state. 17
(6) "Sexually explicit conduct" has the same meaning as defined 18
in section 2256 of Title 18, United States Code. 19
(7) "Video game" means a game played on an electronic amusement 20
device that utilizes a computer, microprocessor, or similar 21
electronic circuitry and its own monitor, or is designed to be used 22
with a television set or a computer monitor, that interacts with the 23
user of the device. 24
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. (1) If a reasonable person's interaction 25
with a companion chatbot would be misled to believe that the person 26
is interacting with a human, an operator shall issue a clear and 27
conspicuous notification indicating that the companion chatbot is 28
artificially generated and not human.29
(2)(a) An operator shall prevent a companion chatbot on its 30
companion chatbot platform from engaging with users unless the 31
operator maintains a protocol for preventing the production of 32
suicidal ideation, suicide, or self-harm content to the user 33
including, but not limited to, by providing a notification to the 34
user that refers the user to crisis service providers, including a 35
suicide hotline or crisis text line, if the user expresses suicidal 36
ideation, suicide, or self-harm. 37
(b) The operator shall publish details on the protocol required 38
by this section on the operator's internet. 39
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(3) An operator shall, for a user that the operator knows is a 1
minor, do all of the following: 2
(a) Disclose to the user that the user is interacting with 3
artificial intelligence; 4
(b) Provide by default a clear and conspicuous notification to 5
the user at least every three hours for continuing companion chatbot 6
interactions that reminds the user to take a break and that the 7
companion chatbot is artificially generated and not human; and8
(c) Institute reasonable measures to prevent its companion 9
chatbot from producing visual material of sexually explicit conduct 10
or directly stating that the minor should engage in sexually explicit 11
conduct. 12
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. (1) Beginning July 1, 2027, an operator 13
shall annually report to the department all of the following:14
(a) The number of times the operator has issued a crisis service 15
provider referral notification pursuant to section 2 of this act in 16
the preceding calendar year; 17
(b) Protocols put in place to detect, remove, and respond to 18
instances of suicidal ideation by users; and 19
(c) Protocols put in place to prohibit a companion chatbot 20
response about suicidal ideation or actions with the user.21
(2) The report required by this section shall include only the 22
information listed in subsection (1) of this section and may not 23
include any identifiers or personal information about users.24
(3) The department of health shall post data from a report 25
required by this section on its internet website. 26
(4) An operator shall use evidence-based methods for measuring 27
suicidal ideation. 28
NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. An operator shall disclose to a user of 29
its companion chatbot platform, on the application, the browser, or 30
any other format that a user can use to access the companion chatbot 31
platform, that companion chatbots may not be suitable for some 32
minors.33
NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. (1) A person who suffers injury in fact as 34
a result of a violation of this chapter may bring a civil action to 35
recover injunctive relief, damages in an amount equal to the greater 36
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of actual damages or $1,000 per violation, and reasonable attorneys' 1
fees and costs. 2
(2) In an action against a defendant who developed, modified, or 3
used artificial intelligence that is alleged to have caused harm to 4
the plaintiff, it shall not be a defense, and may not be asserted, 5
that the artificial intelligence autonomously caused the harm to the 6
plaintiff. 7
NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. The duties, remedies, and obligations 8
imposed by this chapter are cumulative to the duties, remedies, or 9
obligations imposed under other law and shall not be construed to 10
relieve an operator from any duties, remedies, or obligations imposed 11
under any other law.12
NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. A new section is added to chapter 4.20 RCW 13
to read as follows: 14
(1) For purposes of this chapter, it is prima facie evidence that 15
the death of a person is caused by the wrongful act, neglect, or 16
default of the owner of an artificial intelligence system if:17
(a) The person's cause of death is determined to be suicide;18
(b) The person provided inputs to the owner's artificial 19
intelligence system related to suicide; 20
(c) The owner's artificial intelligence system caused or aided 21
the person's suicide by: 22
(i) Providing instructions on how to attempt suicide;23
(ii) Encouraging the person to attempt suicide; or24
(iii) Failing to refer the person to the 988 national suicide 25
prevention hotline or its successor; and 26
(d) The owner of the artificial intelligence system knew or 27
should have known that the artificial intelligence system could cause 28
or aid a person to attempt suicide. 29
(2) For purposes of this section, "artificial intelligence 30
system" means an engineered or machine-based system that, for 31
explicit or implicit objectives, infers, from the input it receives, 32
how to generate outputs that can influence physical or virtual 33
environments and that may operate with varying levels of autonomy.34
NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. If any provision of this act or its 35
application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the 36
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remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other 1
persons or circumstances is not affected. 2
NEW SECTION. Sec. 9. Sections 1 through 6 of this act 3
constitute a new chapter in Title 19 RCW.4
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