Maryland HB 952 (Consumer Protection – Companion Chatbots – Regulation) 2026

• Authority: Maryland
• Parent authority: State governments
• Jurisdiction: United States
• Collections: U.S. state and local documents
• Most recent activity: Proposed
• Most recent activity date: 2026-03-23

Risk subdomain coverage

Good coverage — Comprehensive governance measures or mitigations with clear procedures relating to the risk subdomain are explicitly described.

• Exposure to toxic content
• Overreliance and unsafe use

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the risk subdomain are described.

• Compromise of privacy
• Loss of human agency and autonomy
• Lack of capability or robustness
• Lack of transparency or interpretability

All other risk subdomains had no coverage in this document.

Risk Coverage Summary

The document has good coverage of approximately 5 subdomains, with strong focus on exposure to toxic content (1.2), overreliance and unsafe use (5.1), and loss of agency (5.2). It also addresses privacy compromise (2.1), lack of robustness (7.3), and lack of transparency (7.4). Coverage is concentrated in human-computer interaction and discrimination/toxicity domains, with specific protections against harmful content and manipulation.

Sector coverage

Good coverage — Comprehensive governance measures or mitigations with clear procedures relating to the sector are explicitly described.

• Information

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the sector are described.

• Health Care & Social Assistance
• Arts, Entertainment & Recreation
• Accommodation, Food & Other Services
• Public Administration (excl. National Security)

All other sectors had no coverage in this document.

Sectors Summary

This document primarily governs the Information sector, specifically operators of companion chatbot services that provide AI-driven conversational interfaces for social and emotional interaction. The regulation applies across any sector where such companion chatbots are deployed to Maryland users.

Legislative Status

Hard Law

Legislative Status Summary

This is binding state legislation enacted by the Maryland General Assembly with mandatory obligations, enforcement mechanisms through the Maryland Consumer Protection Act, and strict liability provisions for non-compliance.

Actors

Proposer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Summary: The document is an Act enacted by the Maryland General Assembly, Maryland's state legislative body, which proposed and enacted this companion chatbot regulation.

Target

• Entity Types: AI_Deployer
• Summary: The legislation explicitly targets 'operators' of companion chatbots, defined as persons who make such systems available to users in the state, along with 'developers' and 'controllers' who have various obligations under the Act.

Enforcer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Summary: Enforcement is conducted through the existing Maryland Consumer Protection Act framework (Title 13), which provides enforcement and penalty provisions for unfair, abusive, or deceptive trade practices.

Monitor

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Summary: The Office of Suicide Prevention is designated to receive annual reports from operators, compile data, and publish findings on compliance with safety protocols and complaint handling.

AI Lifecycle Stages

Lifecycle stages covered by the documents, as defined in the OECD Framework for the Classification of AI Systems

• Plan and Design
• Collect and Process Data
• Verify and Validate
• Deploy
• Operate and Monitor

AI Lifecycle Summary

The document primarily focuses on the Deploy and Operate and Monitor stages, with detailed requirements for operational protocols, ongoing monitoring, complaint systems, and annual reporting. It also covers aspects of Plan and Design through protocol establishment requirements, and Verify and Validate through evidence-based detection methods.

Technical Scope

Terms relating to technical scope that are mentioned or implicitly referenced in the document

• AI Systems
• Task-specific AI

Technical Scope Summary

The document explicitly defines and regulates 'companion chatbots' as artificial intelligence systems with natural language interfaces. It does not reference frontier AI, general purpose AI, foundation models, or compute thresholds. The focus is on a specific category of conversational AI systems designed for social interaction.