Law / United States / 
New Hampshire
AI Chatbot Solicitation of Children
In force since .
An AI prohibited practices rule binding private bodies.
- Audit expectation
- none
What it requires
- Do not operate an AI chatbot or other generative-communication application that, knowing it is directing a communication to a child, facilitates, encourages, offers, solicits, or recommends that the child imminently engage in sexually explicit conduct, illegal drug or alcohol use, self-harm or suicide, or violence against another person.
- A violation is prosecuted as a misdemeanor, not a felony, under RSA 639:3, III-a.
- The attorney general, not the child or a parent directly, holds the sole right to bring a civil action against you for a violation, seeking damages with a floor of $1,000 per violation.
- This does not reach a cloud, telecommunications, or information service provider handling another party's content, or an AI chat feature that is incidental to a video game, streaming service, or similar entertainment product.
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
In the frameworks
- NIST AI RMF
- MEASURE 2.6The AI system is evaluated regularly for safety risks – as identified in the MAP function. The AI system to be deployed is demonstrated to be safe, its residual negative risk does not exceed the risk tolerance, and it can fail safely, particularly if made to operate beyond its knowledge limits. Safety metrics reflect system reliability and robustness, real-time monitoring, and response times for AI system failures.
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
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Private right of actionNo
Criminal exposure note
A violation of RSA 639:3, III-a is prosecuted as a misdemeanor: RSA 639:3, V reserves felony treatment for a violation of paragraph III (solicitation of a child to create a visual representation of sexual activity) and states that all other violations of the section are misdemeanors.
Statutory damages
Recoverable only through an action the attorney general brings under RSA 507:8-k on the child's, parent's, or next friend's behalf; the statute gives no private right of action to bring that suit directly.
- As of
- Currency
- USD
- Per person minimum
- 1,000
What it makes you log
Logging duty
RSA 639:3, III-a and RSA 507:8-k define the offense and civil action for an AI chatbot's solicitation of a child; neither creates a duty for any party to keep a log, record or other documentation, and neither names anybody who may check one.
- Kind
- None
- As of
What this law does
An owner or operator of a computer online service, including an AI chat program, large language model bot, chat bot, or character AI whose sole purpose is open-ended generative communication, commits endangering the welfare of a child under RSA 639:3, III-a if, knowing it is directing the communication to a child, it facilitates, encourages, offers, solicits, or recommends that the child imminently engage in sexually explicit conduct, producing a visual depiction of such conduct, illegal drug or alcohol use, self-harm or suicide, or a crime of violence against another person.
RSA 639:3, V classifies a violation of this paragraph as a misdemeanor rather than the felony reserved for paragraph III of the same section. A separate provision, RSA 507:8-k, exposes the same owner or operator to civil liability for damages proximately caused, with a floor of $1,000 in liquidated damages per violation, but reserves the right to bring that action to the attorney general alone rather than to the child or parent directly.
Neither provision reaches a cloud, telecommunications, or information service provider handling another party's content, or an AI chat feature incidental to a video game, streaming service, or similar entertainment product.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app deploys a chatbot, generates content with AI or serves under-18s.
Back to the example · Lint your app
Page updated .