Status: Enacted — Signed by Governor Brian Kemp on May 11, 2026. Effective July 1, 2027.

Bill Number: Georgia SB 540 (2025-2026 Regular Session)

Jurisdiction: Georgia

Category: AI Governance, Chatbot Disclosure, Child Safety, Mental Health Crisis Response

Industries: Technology, Social Media, Consumer AI, Healthcare, Education — any business deploying AI companion or conversational chatbots accessible by minors

Enacted Date: May 11, 2026

Effective Date: July 1, 2027

Summary: Georgia's Conversational AI Safety Act (SB 540) is among the most comprehensive state-level AI chatbot laws enacted in the United States. The law establishes disclosure, age-verification, parental-control, and crisis-response requirements for operators of AI companion and conversational chatbot systems, with heightened protections for minors. Unlike many state chatbot bills that include carve-outs for chatbots embedded within larger platforms, Georgia's SB 540 contains no such exemption — making major technology platforms including Meta, Google, and others subject to the same rules as standalone AI companion apps. The law was signed alongside companion legislation Georgia SB 444 (health insurance AI ban) as part of Georgia's 2026 AI regulatory package.

Key Requirements:

AI Disclosure — Session Start: Operators must disclose clearly and conspicuously at the beginning of each session that the user is interacting with an AI system and not a human.
Recurring Disclosure — Every Three Hours: Georgia's most distinctive provision: during prolonged interactions, operators must re-disclose AI identity at minimum every three hours. This is the most specific recurring disclosure interval in any state chatbot law to date.
Age Verification and Parental Controls: Operators must implement reasonable age-verification mechanisms and provide parental controls for minors' access to AI companion systems.
Child Safety Prohibitions: The law prohibits sexually explicit interactions between AI systems and minors and bans AI chatbots from simulating romantic relationships with children.
Crisis Response Protocol: Operators must implement evidence-based protocols for detecting expressions of suicidal ideation and self-harm in real time, and must provide mandatory referrals to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or equivalent emergency resources.
No Big-Tech Carve-Out: Unlike prior state chatbot proposals, SB 540 applies to chatbots embedded within large platforms as well as standalone apps. This is a significant departure from narrower approaches.
Enforcement: Civil penalties up to $10,000 per knowing violation, enforced by the Georgia Attorney General.

Affected Entities: Any operator of a conversational AI or AI companion chatbot system accessible to Georgia residents — including major social media platforms, AI companion apps (Character.AI, Replika, and similar), and any business-deployed customer-service or wellness chatbot that engages users in extended conversational interactions. Operators must re-examine their current disclosure cadences, age-verification systems, and crisis escalation protocols before the July 1, 2027 effective date.

Compliance Outlook: SB 540 creates a compliance inflection point for the AI companion and social AI sector. The every-three-hour re-disclosure requirement, in particular, will require product-level changes to UX flows for major platforms. The no-carve-out architecture means compliance cannot be delegated to a subsidiary or avoided by embedding a chatbot within a larger product. Legal teams should expect AG investigative attention in the first year after the effective date, given the child-safety profile of the law.

IntelliSee Relevance: Not Directly Applicable. SB 540 targets conversational AI companion and chatbot systems used for extended social or emotional interaction with end users. IntelliSee's AI operates exclusively on live camera feeds for physical safety detection — detecting weapons, falls, and aggressive behaviors in real time — and does not engage users in conversational interaction, generate natural-language responses, or simulate human relationships. The law has no operational compliance implications for IntelliSee or its customers. It is included in the tracker as context for Georgia security and technology leaders monitoring the state's expanding AI regulatory environment. Georgia healthcare, K-12, and higher education operators that separately deploy AI wellness or mental-health chatbots alongside IntelliSee's physical-safety systems should review SB 540 compliance for those distinct deployments.

Compliance Timeline

April 6, 2026 — Georgia General Assembly adjourns; SB 540 transmitted to Governor Kemp.
May 11, 2026 — Governor Kemp signs SB 540 into law.
July 1, 2027 — Operative date; all disclosure, age-verification, parental-control, and crisis-response requirements take effect.

Georgia Conversational AI Safety Act (SB 540, 2026)

Compliance Timeline

Related Legislation & Resources

Turn Legislative Mandates Into a Working Safety Program