California will bar the manufacture and sale of toys that include a companion chatbot, an AI system that holds adaptive, human-like conversations, when the toy is designed or marketed for children under 16. The ban, Senate Bill 867, takes effect Jan. 1, 2027, so it lands just after the holiday gift season.
The bill was signed on Sept. 10, 2026, according to a Sept. 11 analysis by the law firm Ballard Spahr, which described the signing as having happened the day before. A tracking page at regulations.ai lists the bill as approved and filed with the Secretary of State on Sept. 10 as Chapter 189 of the Statutes of 2026.
What SB 867 Prohibits
The core rule, as Ballard Spahr quotes it, says that “no person shall manufacture, sell, or exchange, possess with intent to sell or exchange, or expose or offer for sale or exchange to any retailer any toy that includes a companion chatbot.” The bill defines a toy as a physical product designed, marketed or manufactured for use in play by children under 16 years of age. Parents who remember past toy crazes can look back at 8 toys kids begged for at Christmas in the 1980s, none of which talked back with an AI model.
A companion chatbot, in the bill, borrows the existing California definition from SB 243: an AI system with a natural language interface that gives adaptive, human-like responses and can meet a user’s social needs. Parents weighing what belongs under the tree can also look at gentle parenting advice and 13 birthday party activities for kids at home.
Who the Ban Reaches, and What It Skips
The prohibition runs to makers, sellers and anyone offering the toys to retailers. Ballard Spahr says the bill offers no compliance path built on disclosures, testing or certification, so content filters, parental controls or session limits would not cure a violation. The only way to stay on the market is to change the product so it falls outside the definition.
The regulations.ai summary adds that the act has no express exemption for existing inventory, and that it does not expressly prohibit families from owning or using these toys or require returns or recalls. Other Jan. 1 rules also touch children and technology, including Alabama’s rule that kids under 18 need a parent’s OK to download apps. For the school-day routine, there are easy lunch ideas for kindergarten kids.
What Is Exempt
The bill excludes certain customer service and business tools. It also excludes video game characters whose replies are limited to game-related topics and cannot discuss mental health, self-harm, sexually explicit conduct or unrelated subjects, along with standalone voice assistants that do not sustain relationships or produce outputs likely to elicit emotional responses.
As Ballard Spahr describes the exemptions, a standalone voice assistant that does not sustain relationships is treated differently from a toy built around a companion chatbot. Grandparents shopping for a child can start from ten things grandparents who make the biggest difference usually do or 7 small ways some grandparents make childhood feel magical, and families planning a trip can look at things to do in Orlando with kids.
A Four-Year Pause Backed by Children Now
The bill’s author, Sen. Steve Padilla, a San Diego Democrat, described it in a Sept. 1 release as a four-year pause on selling and making toys with AI chatbot features for children under 16. The release says the toys have been appearing on the market without adequate safety protections, and that researchers found problems including sexually explicit conversations and access to dangerous items. The pause is meant to give lawmakers time to update rules for AI products.
Children Now sponsored the bill. According to the release, the Senate passed it unanimously and the Assembly passed it 74-1. Ted Lempert, the group’s president, said in the release that AI-powered toys without safety guardrails have the potential to do serious damage to the youngest children. The regulations.ai page says the prohibition is repealed on Jan. 1, 2031, about four years after it takes effect.
Padilla first introduced the bill in January. Axios reported then that he described it as a four-year moratorium on producing and selling toys with AI chatbot features, and quoted him saying, “This is not an anti-technology bill” and “This is a bill about protecting innocent young children from harm.” The Axios report cited concerns about security risks, privacy and children’s exposure to harmful or inappropriate content.
Penalties and What Happens Next
The enacted sections set no fines, damages amounts or criminal penalties, according to regulations.ai. It says the Legislative Counsel’s Digest describes violations as carrying the same civil liability as existing companion chatbot violations, and that remedies depend on surrounding law. The page is a third-party summary, so the chaptered text on the state’s legislative website is the final word.
Because the bill is a non-urgency statute, it does not take effect on approval. The new-laws tracker at RecordingLaw lists the ban on toys built with companion chatbot AI as starting Jan. 1, 2027, and that is the date from which making or selling a covered toy in California becomes unlawful.
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Image: GeorgeRexTA – CC BY-SA 2.0/Wikimedia Commons