Law / United States / 
Wisconsin
2025 Senate Bill 939 / Assembly Bill 965, AI Companion Chatbot Safety Measures for Children
2025 Wis. SB 939 / AB 965 (2025-2026 Regular Session); would have created Wis. Stat. § 100.80
A citation is an address, not a summary. The first part names the law; what follows narrows it to the exact section, article or paragraph.
Withdrawn: no longer proceeding.
An AI prohibited practices rule binding private bodies.
As of 6 September 2026.
What it requires
- This measure did not pass and binds nobody; what follows is what it would have required if enacted.
- Do not make a companion chatbot, an AI system simulating a sustained humanlike relationship, available to a Wisconsin child under 18 unless it incorporates safety measures against encouraging self-harm, sexual content, illegal activity, or discouraging professional mental-health help, and against optimizing engagement over those safety measures.
- Before January 1, 2027, this duty would have applied only where you had actual knowledge that a user was a child.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureNo
Private right of actionYes
Penalty structure
As introduced, this bill would have authorized a civil forfeiture of up to $25,000 per violation, with each day of violation a separate offense, recoverable by the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection or the Department of Justice, plus injunctive relief, court costs, and attorney fees. It would also have created a separate private civil action for a harmed child or parent/guardian for actual and punitive damages, not capped by this per-violation figure. The bill failed to pass and none of this took effect.
- Rule
- Per violation only
- As of
- 6 September 2026
- Currency
- USD
- Per violation unit
- Violation
- Per violation amount
- 25,000
What it reaches
Obligation class
Prohibition, Design code
What this law does
Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.
This measure did not pass and binds nobody; what follows is what it would have required.
Introduced February 6, 2026 by Senators Jacque and Quinn with a companion Assembly Bill 965, the bill would have prohibited an "operator" (a person that creates, controls, deploys, or operates a companion chatbot) from making a "companion chatbot," a generative AI system with a natural language interface that simulates a sustained humanlike relationship by retaining information across sessions, asking unprompted emotion-based questions, and sustaining an ongoing personal dialogue, available to a child under 18 residing in Wisconsin unless the chatbot incorporated safety measures against encouraging self-harm, suicidal ideation, or violence; offering mental health services or discouraging professional help; encouraging illegal activity including production of child sexual abuse material; depicting or soliciting sexually explicit conduct; prioritizing validation of a child's beliefs over factual accuracy or safety; or optimizing engagement over those safety measures.
Until January 1, 2027, the duty would have applied only where the operator had actual knowledge the user was a child. Enforcement would have run through the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection or the Department of Justice, seeking a civil forfeiture of up to $25,000 per violation (each day of violation a separate offense) plus injunctive relief, and separately through a private civil action by a harmed child or their parent or guardian for actual and punitive damages.
The Senate bill was referred to the Committee on Utilities, Technology and Tourism and failed to pass pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution 1 on March 23, 2026, when the 2025-2026 session's business ended; no successor bill has been identified as of the date shown.
When LexLint raises it
deploys_chatbotgenerates_contentserves_minors
Read the law
bill text as introduced, Wisconsin Legislature (docs.legis.wisconsin.gov)
not enacted