Proposed Florida bill would limit AI chatbots for minors and establish new AI rights – IslanderNews.com
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Updated: December 23, 2025 @ 3:42 pm
A leading Senate Republican filed a lengthy bill Monday to enact Gov. Ron DeSantis’s proposed “Artificial Intelligence Bill of Rights.”
Sponsored by Sen. Tom Leek, a Republican from Port Orange, SB 482 would ban minors from access artificial intelligence chatbot accounts. The bill also enumerates Florida residents’ powers when it comes to AI including:
• The right of parents to supervise, access, limit, and control their minor children’s use of artificial intelligence.
• The right to know whether they are communicating with a human being or an artificial intelligence system, program, or chatbot.
• The right to know if artificial intelligence technology companies are collecting personal information or biometric data, and to expect them to protect and de-identify that information or data.
Attempts to contact Leek for this story were unsuccessful.
The bill comes as the governor has made AI policies — from cracking down on its growth to limiting access to sexual AI chatbots to restricting growth of data centers — a priority for the coming 2026 legislative session.
“We cannot turn it all over to machines and think it’s going to work out great in the end,” DeSantis said during a press conference earlier this month from The Villages, where he was joined by an Orlando mom who lost her son to suicide after an AI chatbot encouraged him to “come home.”
“I really fear that if this is not addressed in an intelligent and proper way, it could set off an age of darkness and deceit,” DeSantis added.
SB 482 bill does not limit new AI centers but it does go beyond establishing basic rights concerning the technology.
The legislation would ban government entities, beginning July 1, 2026, from entering into any contract with any entity providing AI unless the company signs an affidavit affirming it is not owned by a “foreign country of concern.”
A government entity cannot enter into a contract for artificial intelligence technology, software, or products, if the technology is owned by a government of a “foreign country of concern,” such a country holds a controlling interest in the AI company, or a the provider is organized under the laws of or has its principal place of business in such a country.
The bill would provide definitions for “artificial intelligence,” “bot,” and “companion chatbot” and make clear that a chatbot used for a video game, or that functions as voice command and speaker, in customer service, or a business’s operational purposes do not qualify as companion chatbots.
The bill would ban companion chatbox platforms from allowing people under age 18 to enter into contracts and becoming accountholders with the company.
Parents of minors could consent to their children joining the platform but the legislation requires that the consenting parent receive all copies of interactions between the minor and the companion chatbot. The bill would mandate that consenting parents and guardians be allowed to limit the amount of time spent with the chatbot each day as well as days of the week and the times of the day that interactions could occur.
Companion chatbot platforms are required to terminate minors’ accounts within 10 days if requested by the consenting parent or guardian or within five days if requested by the minor accountholder.
The bill changes the rules for accounts owned by minors, too. For instance, with respect to minors’ accounts, SB 248 would require companion chatbot platforms to tell users they are interacting with artificial intelligence.
Additionally, the platforms must at the start of interactions — and at least once every hour during continuing interactions — remind the minors user that they are interacting with AI and to also take a break.
The bill would require companion chatbot platforms to “institute reasonable measures” to ensure the AI is not producing or sharing materials harmful to minors.
A companion chatbot platform that knowingly or recklessly violates the law could be sued. The bill requires that a civil suit be filed within one year after the alleged violation. Injured minors could receive up to $10,000 in damages. The companies could also be required to pay court fees and the minor’s attorney’s fees.
The Department of Legal Affairs, led by Attorney General James Uthmeier, would hold enforcement authority and collect civil penalties of up to $50,000 per violation if the department deems the chatbot platform’s failure to comply reflects a consistent pattern of reckless behavior.
The bill would provide protection for residents of all ages, though, and not just minors, requiring that all users be told at the beginning of an interaction and at least every hour that they are not interacting with a person.
The department would gain authority to take action against platforms for deceptive or unfair trade practices or acts and collect civil penalties of $50,000 per violation.
And chatbot platforms that don’t de-identify users’ personal information and then sell the data could also be hit for deceptive or unfair trade practices or acts and face $50,000 civil penalties per violation.
There was no House sponsor as of this publication and the freshly filed bill still had not been referred to any Senate committees for hearings.
This story was originally published by the Florida Phoenix, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
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