Law / United States / 
California
Bolstering Online Transparency Act (SB 1001)
Cal. Bus. and Prof. Code Sections 17940 to 17943
In force since .
An AI transparency rule binding public and private bodies.
- How the hook was established
- express
- What makes it apply
- User location
- Audit expectation
- none
What it requires
- Clearly and conspicuously disclose that the user is interacting with a bot, which is the statute's safe harbor
- The prohibition reaches using a bot to mislead a Californian about its artificial identity in order to incentivize a commercial transaction or influence a vote
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
In the frameworks
- NIST AI RMF
- MEASURE 2.8Risks associated with transparency and accountability – as identified in the MAP function – are examined and documented.
Our reading of where this law's duties sit in each framework. It never says that running a control meets the law. How we read a framework against the law
Who enforces it
Settledness
- As of
- Open questions
- Does a bot that never claims to be human act "with the intent to mislead the other person about its artificial identity" under section 17941(a) when its operator has not labeled it as a bot?
- What makes a disclosure "clear, conspicuous, and reasonably designed to inform persons" that they are interacting with a bot under section 17941(b)?
What it makes you log
Logging duty
The chapter prohibits using an undisclosed bot to mislead a person and requires disclosure at the point of the interaction to claim the safe harbor. It states no duty to create, keep, or produce on demand any record of that disclosure or of the interaction itself.
- Kind
- None
- As of
What this law does
Makes it unlawful to use a bot to communicate with a person in California with intent to mislead them about the bot's artificial identity, for the purpose of deceiving them to incentivize a commercial transaction or influence a vote. A safe harbor applies where the bot operator clearly and conspicuously discloses that the user is interacting with a bot.
No enacted amendment, repeal, or litigation affecting this statute was found; AB 410 (2025-2026 session), which would add AI-related definitions and tighten the disclosure duty to require upfront disclosure at first contact, was held under submission in the Senate Appropriations Committee as of and carried over to the 2026 session with no further enactment confirmed.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app deploys a chatbot or sends automated outreach.
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