Sponsored by:
Senator OWEN HENRY
District 12 (Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean)
Senator ANTHONY M. BUCCO
District 25 (Morris and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Requires notification of use of artificial intelligence system in certain communications with consumers.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning consumer communication with an artificial intelligence system and supplementing P.L.1960, c.39 (C.56:8-1 et seq.).
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. A person or entity that deploys an artificial intelligence system to communicate with a consumer through an online platform shall, upon establishing contact with the consumer and prior to initiating any further communication, clearly and conspicuously:
(1) notify the consumer that an artificial intelligence system is communicating with the consumer; and
(2) provide the consumer with information on how to contact a human, including but not limited to providing a phone number, Internet website, or similar contact information for a human; the days and times a human is available; and any other information necessary for communication with a human.
b. It shall be an unlawful practice and a violation of P.L.1960, c.39 (C.56:8-1 et seq.) for any person or entity that deploys an artificial intelligence system to communicate with a consumer through an online platform to violate the provisions of this section.
c. As used in this section:
“Artificial intelligence” means the development of software and hardware and the end-use application of technologies that are able to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence, including, but not limited to, visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, translation between languages, and generative artificial intelligence, which generates new content in response to user inputs of data.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill requires a person or entity to provide a consumer with certain information if the person or entity uses an artificial intelligence system to communicate with the consumer on an online platform.
Specifically, the bill requires a person or entity, upon making contact with a consumer and prior to initiating any further communication, to: (1) notify the consumer that an artificial intelligence system is communicating with the consumer, and (2) provide the consumer with information on how to contact a human, including but not limited to providing contact information and hours of availability for a human and any other information necessary for the consumer to contact a human.
A violation of the bill’s provisions would be an unlawful practice under the consumer fraud act, and would be punishable by a monetary penalty of not more than $10,000 for a first offense and not more than $20,000 for any subsequent offense. Additionally, a violation of the consumer fraud act can result in cease and desist orders issued by the Attorney General, the assessment of punitive damages, and the awarding of treble damages and costs to the injured.