Utah legislation · 2026 General Session
Utah HB438: Artificial Intelligence Amendments
Status: Failed, March 6, 2026
This bill enacts the Companion Chatbot Safety Act to regulate operators of companion chatbots and protect consumers.
What the bill says
An act or practice in response to a specific request from an operator, provided: (i) the request is clear, conspicuous, and written in easy-to-understand language; (ii) the option to refuse to give consent is at least as prominent as the option to give consent, and the option to refuse to give consent takes the same number of steps or fewer as the option to give consent; and (iii) affirmative consent to an act or practice is not inferred from the inaction of the user or the user's continued use of a companion chatbot. (b) "Affirmative consent" does not include: (i) acceptance of a general or b.
From the substitute text, March 5, 2026:
an act or practice in response to a specific request from an operator, provided: (i) the request is clear, conspicuous, and written in easy-to-understand language; (ii) the option to refuse to give consent is at least as prominent as the option to give consent, and the option to refuse to give consent takes the same number of steps or fewer as the option to give consent; and (iii) affirmative consent to an act or practice is not inferred from the inaction of the user or the user's continued use of a companion chatbot. (b) "Affirmative consent" does not include: (i) acceptance of a general or broad terms of use or similar document; (ii) hovering over, muting, pausing, or closing a given piece of content; or (iii) an agreement obtained through the use of a false, fraudulent, or materially misleading statement or representation. (3) "Application programming interface" means a set of protocols, tools, or specifications that allows software systems to communicate with one another and through which a third party may access, integrate, or build upon an artificial intelligence system's underlying capabilities. (4) "Artificial intelligence" means the same as that term is defined in Section 13-72-101 . (5) (a) "Companion chatbot" means an artificial intelligence system that uses a natural language interface that: (i) is designed to use personal data retained, …