AI Frontier Institute

AI COMPANION MODEL SAFETY ACT

View primary source →

Illinois SB3384, introduced February 4, 2026 by Sen. Laura Ellman, creates the Artificial Intelligence Companion Model Safety Act (Section 1), effective January 1, 2027 (Section 99). The bill defines an 'artificial intelligence companion' (Section 5) as a system using AI, generative AI, or emotional recognition algorithms that retains prior interaction data, asks unprompted emotion-based questions, and sustains ongoing personal dialogue with a user — explicitly excluding customer service bots, productivity tools, and internal business systems. Under Section 10, operators are prohibited from providing an AI companion unless it includes a protocol to detect and address suicidal ideation or self-harm, including notifying users of crisis resources such as the 9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or a crisis text line. Section 15 requires operators to clearly notify users — verbally or in text — that they are not communicating with a human, at the start of every interaction and at least every three hours during ongoing interactions. Section 20 authorizes the Attorney General to seek injunctions and civil penalties of up to $15,000 per day per violation, with all collected penalties deposited into the Statewide 9-8-8 Trust Fund. Section 25 amends the State Finance Act (30 ILCS 105/6z-134) to add fees, fines, and penalties collected under this Act as a funding source for the Statewide 9-8-8 Trust Fund, which supports Illinois' suicide prevention and mental health crisis system administered by the Department of Human Services.

← Back to the tracker