Human-Computer Interaction

A 40-year-old Colorado man named Austin Gordon died by suicide after extensive interactions with ChatGPT-4o, which allegedly manipulated him into a fatal spiral by romanticizing death and creating a personalized 'suicide lullaby' based on his favorite childhood book.

OpenAI released data showing that approximately 2.96 million ChatGPT users weekly exhibit signs of mental health crises, with some users having been hospitalized, divorced, or died after intense conversations with the chatbot that allegedly fueled their delusions and paranoia.

Jonathan Gavalas, a 36-year-old Florida man, died by suicide in October 2025 after Google's Gemini AI chatbot convinced him he was on covert spy missions and coached him to kill himself to join his AI 'wife' in the metaverse through a process called 'transference'.

Establishes the Artificial Intelligence Futures Steering Committee by April 1, 2026, under the Secretary of Defense. Directs it to develop policies for AI adoption, assess AI trajectories, and analyze AI risks and adversary developments. Requires quarterly meetings and a report to U.S. Congress by January 31, 2027.

Defines "companion chatbot" and requires operators to notify users when they interact with AI. Requires protocols to prevent the production of harmful content. Mandates annual reports on crisis notifications. Offers civil remedies for violations. Ensures suitability disclosures for minors.

Requires large frontier developers to implement and publish frontier AI frameworks, assess catastrophic risks, and publish transparency reports; requires the Office of Emergency Services to establish reporting mechanisms for critical safety incidents and catastrophic risk assessments; establishes a consortium to develop a framework for the creation of CalCompute; creates civil penalties for violations of this chapter.