America's first chatbot law takes effect today — and asks nothing of anyone until January
Colorado's HB 26-1263, signed by Governor Polis on 29 May after passing 42-22 in the House and 24-11 in the Senate, formally enters into force today, 12 August. It is the first US state law written specifically for conversational and companion AI. But the duties it creates are dated later: operators must start disclosing that users are talking to a machine, estimating users' ages by commercially reasonable methods, blocking sexual content and simulated emotional dependence for minors, dropping engagement rewards aimed at children and running a documented self-harm response protocol only from 1 January 2027, with the first annual reports to the Attorney General due 1 July 2027.
Why it mattersRead the headline date and you would think something changed today; almost nothing did. What today starts is the rulemaking clock — the Attorney General now has to define terms like 'operator', and companies that white-label someone else's chatbot still do not know which side of the line they sit on. Colorado is not alone either: by the Transparency Coalition's count, fourteen states passed chatbot safety laws in 2026, most of them landing in 2027. For parents, the practical answer to 'what protects my child today' is still: nothing new.
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