NJ A5272
New Jersey Artificial Intelligence Companion Operator Safety Requirements (A5272 / S4474)
Would require operators of AI companions in New Jersey to disclose that users are interacting with generative AI, adopt protocols for responding to suicidal ideation or self-harm that refer users to crisis services, and refrain from presenting the companion as a licensed mental health professional, with additional disclosure, engagement-design and sexual-content safeguards for minor users.
Jurisdiction
New Jersey
Enacted
Pending
Effective
TBD
Enforcement
Civil action under the Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999 (Superior Court or municipal court jurisdiction)
Introduced in the Assembly on June 15, 2026 by Assemblyman Cody D. Miller (District 4) and referred to the Assembly Science, Innovation and Technology Committee. Senate companion S4474 introduced June 17, 2026 and referred to the Senate Commerce Committee. No committee action recorded as of September 6, 2026. 222nd Legislature (2026-2027 session).
New Jersey Legislature: A5272 introduced text (2026-2027 session)Why It Matters
Adopts the crisis-protocol and disclosure structure of California SB 243 for New Jersey, and defines an AI companion by function (memory across sessions, unprompted emotion-based questions, sustained personal dialogue), a definition that would reach general-purpose assistants with those features.
Recent Developments
Introduced June 15, 2026 with a Senate companion (S4474) two days later. This is a new 2026-2027 session bill rather than a carry-over of the 2025 New Jersey AI Consumer Protection Act bills (S4463 / A5603), which died when the previous session ended in January 2026. It would take effect on the first day of the seventh month after enactment.
At a Glance
Applies to
Harms addressed
Who Must Comply
- Operators that provide an AI companion to users, defined functionally as a generative AI system that retains information across sessions, asks unprompted emotion-based questions and sustains an ongoing personal dialogue
- Mobile application stores and search engines are excluded where they merely provide access to an AI companion
Obligations fall on:
Applicability thresholds:
Safety Provisions
- Operators must adopt protocols for AI companion responses to user prompts about suicidal ideation or self-harm, including reasonable efforts to refer the user to crisis service providers such as a suicide hotline or crisis text line
- Operators may not knowingly or intentionally program an AI companion to make statements that would lead a reasonable person to believe it can act as a licensed mental health professional
- Where a reasonable user could believe they are interacting with a human, the operator must display either a persistent visible disclaimer or a disclaimer after every three hours of continuous interaction that the companion is generative AI
- For users the operator knows or has cause to know are minors: disclosure that the companion is generative AI, either constantly visible or at the beginning of each interaction and at least once every three hours
- For minors: no points or similar rewards at unpredictable intervals intended to increase engagement
- For minors: reasonable measures to prevent the companion from producing sexually explicit visual material, telling the minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct, or sexually objectifying the minor
- Tools for minor users to manage privacy and account settings, and tools for a parent or guardian to manage those settings where the minor is under 13
Exemptions
App store and search engine access exclusion
A mobile application store or search engine is not an operator solely because it provides access to an AI companion
- • Entity only provides access to a third party's AI companion
Compliance & Enforcement
Penalties
$500K; $1K/violation
View on map
New Jersey
Focus Areas
Cite This
APA
New Jersey. (n.d.). New Jersey Artificial Intelligence Companion Operator Safety Requirements (A5272 / S4474).
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Last updated September 6, 2026. Verify against primary sources before relying on this information.