AI Frontier Institute

Relating To Artificial Intelligence For The Protection Of Minors.

View primary source →

Hawaii S.B. 2788 (33rd Legislature, 2026) adds a new part to Chapter 28 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes establishing protections for minors interacting with AI companion systems and conversational AI services. The bill requires providers to clearly disclose at the start of each user session—and at least once every three hours during a continuous interaction—that the user is interacting with AI and not a human. Providers that know or have reasonable certainty a user is a minor are prohibited from designing systems that represent themselves as human or sentient, encourage emotional dependency or secrecy from parents, simulate romantic or sexual relationships with minors, use manipulative engagement techniques such as gamification or unpredictable rewards, or claim to provide professional mental health or medical services. Providers must also implement measures to prevent generation of sexually explicit content involving minors and content promoting self-harm, and must maintain a protocol to redirect users showing signs of suicidal ideation to crisis resources. Data collection from minors must be limited to what is necessary to operate the system; minors' data cannot be used for targeted advertising or behavioral manipulation. Providers of AI companion systems available to minors must offer parental tools to set time limits, restrict harmful features, and access high-level usage information. Providers of systems presenting a material risk of harm to minors must implement age assurance measures. Enforcement rests with the attorney general; civil penalties may reach $15,000 per violation per day, and injured individuals may bring civil actions for actual damages, injunctive relief, and attorney's fees. Providers demonstrating good-faith documented compliance efforts are shielded from liability.

← Back to the tracker