Public Citizen Model State Law: A Consumer’s Right To Know When They Are Engaging With a Chatbot or Human-Seeming Computer Technology
I. It is an unfair or deceptive trade practice, whether or not any consumer is in fact misled, deceived, or damaged thereby, for any corporation, organization or person to engage in a commercial transaction or trade practice with a consumer of any kind in which the consumer is communicating or otherwise interacting with a chatbot, artificial intelligence agent, avatar, or other computer technology that engages in a textual or aural conversation and may mislead or deceive a reasonable person to believe they are engaging with an actual human, and —
(a) The consumer is not notified in a clear and conspicuous fashion that they are communicating with a computer, not a human being; or
(b) The consumer may otherwise reasonably believe they are engaging with a human.
II. Any consumer subjected to a commercial transaction or trade practice that does not comply with (1) may initiate a private right of action.
III. Any corporation, organization or person who fails to comply with (I) with respect to any consumer is liable —
(a) to such consumer in an amount equal to the sum of any actual damage sustained by such person as a result of such failure, as well as statutory damages not exceeding $1,000; or
(b) in the case of a class action, for such amount as the court may allow for the class, not to exceed $10 million.
IV. The attorney general may seek injunctive relief against any corporation, organization or person who fails to comply with (I) with respect to any consumer; and any corporation, organization or person found in a court of law to be out of compliance with (I) shall be liable for a civil penalty not to exceed $5 million.