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Featured law

California's customer service chatbot law

The first state law we've reviewed in full. Summaries are drawn only from the chaptered text.

EnactedCalifornia · 2025–2026 Regular Session

AB 1609: Customer service chatbots

Requires large private businesses (over $500 million in national gross annual revenue) to disclose when a customer service chatbot is not human, and to give California customers a simple way to request a human customer service agent, with good-faith time limits on connection and hold times.

Chapter
733 (2026)
Signed
September 28, 2026
Expected effective
January 1, 2027
Code
B&P §§ 22625–22629

* Expected date, inferred from California's general effective-date rule; confirm with counsel. See the verification note.

Read the full summary

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Enacted law reviewed Not yet reviewedCalifornia — Enacted law (AB 1609)
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How human escalation works

From chatbot to a real person

How AB 1609 structures the path for customers of covered California businesses.

  1. 01

    You meet an AI chatbot

    The chatbot may not pretend to be human. Where you could be misled, it must say — in the same channel — that it's AI.

  2. 02

    You ask for a person

    Plain requests like "agent" or "representative", a menu choice, or a spoken request should work, on every customer service platform.

  3. 03

    Connection or a scheduled callback

    A good-faith effort to connect you within 15 minutes — or a specific appointment within one business day.

  4. 04

    Limits on hold time

    Once connected, no more than 15 minutes on hold at any time, and no more than one hour in total.

Timing standards are good-faith requirements and don't apply to email, web forms, or voicemail. See the full summary.

Launching soon

Consumer reporting

Consumer reporting, built carefully

Soon you'll be able to tell us what happened when you tried to reach a person. Reporting is launching soon.

What reporting will do

Capture the company, the channel, what happened, whether you reached a human, and how long you waited — in a structured, consistent way.

What we'll do with reports

Look for patterns across many experiences to inform research and public education, while protecting reporters' privacy.

What we won't do

We won't publish unverified accusations about named companies. Company information will rely on documented evidence and a right of reply.

Learn about reporting

For customer service and compliance leaders

Is your company ready for AB 1609?

Ten questions, mapped section by section to the statute. Runs entirely in your browser — nothing is sent to us.

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Educational resources

Guides

All guides

For consumers

How to ask for a human under California AB 1609

What California's chatbot law says about requesting a human customer service agent, and what timing businesses must make a good-faith effort to meet.

Bus. & Prof. Code § 22625 + 2

FAQ

Common questions about AB 1609

Answers come only from the chaptered text.

For covered businesses, yes. During at least regular business hours, a large private business must provide a simple feature on all its customer service platforms — including chatbots and phone lines — that lets California customers request to connect to a customer service agent (Bus. & Prof. Code § 22627).

It applies to "large private businesses": businesses with more than $500,000,000 in gross annual revenue nationally that provide goods and services to customers (§ 22625). Certain services and organizations are exempt (§ 22628).

The business must make a good-faith effort to connect you to an agent within 15 minutes of your request, or give you a specific appointment time within one business day when an agent will call or connect with you (§ 22627).

Yes. After you are connected with an agent, the business must make a good-faith effort so you are not on hold more than 15 minutes at any time, and cumulative hold, wait, and escalation queues do not exceed one hour (§ 22627).

A large private business may not represent that a customer service chatbot is a human. If a reasonable person is likely to be misled, it must clearly and conspicuously disclose, in the same medium, that the chatbot is artificially generated and not human (§ 22626).

No. The law does not create a private right of action. It is enforced by public prosecutors, with civil penalties up to $5,000 for an initial violation and $10,000 for each subsequent violation (§ 22628).

No. The law does not require the 15-minute response for email, web contact forms, or voicemail (§ 22627).

The chaptered text has no special operative-date clause. Under California's general rule, statutes enacted in a regular session take effect January 1 of the following year, so January 1, 2027 is expected. Confirm with counsel.

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