On March 17, 2026, Senate Bill No. 1090 (Protecting Children from Harmful AI Chat Interactions) passed with near-unanimous support in the Pennsylvania Senate. Likely to pass in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, school administrators are encouraged to review the prospective law and potential implications on the use of artificial intelligence in schools.
The SAFECHAT Act
Senate Bill No. 1090, also known as the Safeguarding Adolescents from Exploitative Chatbots and Harmful AI Technology Act, or SAFECHAT Act, seeks to address the lack of protections for the growing instances of when people, including minors, use AI chatbots for companionship and/or to cope with trauma, mental health, depression, and anxiety.
When introduced and circulated, Co-Sponsoring Senators Pennycuick and Miller emphasized that “the bill takes a focused approach centered on child safety and prevention” by establishing “clear, age-appropriate standards for chatbots that minors interact with; require robust safeguards to prevent content generation that encourages self-harm, suicide or violence against others; and directs users to appropriate self-harm crisis resources whenever high-risk language is detected.”
The SAFECHAT Act would require companies that develop and operate companionship-focused chatbots (“operators”) to disclose the “AI companion’s” nonhuman status with a “clear and conspicuous” notification.
Additionally, these operators are to establish protocols to prevent chatbots from producing content related to suicidal ideation, suicide, or self-harm, or content that directly encourages a user to commit acts of violence. The protocols established must also include providing notification to users of crisis service providers and crisis hotlines if a user shows signs of suicidal ideation, suicide, or self-harm.
When the operator knows or should know that a user is a minor, safeguards under the act would require operators to disclose to users that they are communicating with artificial intelligence, and not a human being. Operators are to issue periodic “clear and conspicuous” notifications that minor users should take breaks from using the chatbot and that the chatbot is nonhuman. The SAFECHAT Act would also require operators to prevent chatbots from producing visual material of sexually explicit conduct for a minor or directly instructing the minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct.
The SAFECHAT Act directs the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office to enforce it and would allow civil penalties of up to $10,000 for operators who violate it.
What is an AI Companion?
An “AI companion” is “a system using artificial intelligence, generative artificial intelligence or emotional recognition algorithms designed to simulate a sustained human or human-like relationship with a user.” The SAFECHAT Act describes such relationship-building as “retaining information on prior interactions or user sessions and user preferences to personalize the interaction and facilitate ongoing engagement,” “asking unprompted or unsolicited emotion-based questions that go beyond a direct response to a user prompt,” and “sustaining an ongoing dialogue concerning matters personal to the user.”
The SAFECHAT Act specifically focuses on conversational AI companions and protecting minors from harmful, interactive AI content, rather than broader generative AI tools. The definition of “AI companion” does not include artificial intelligence systems designed to perform specific, bounded functions—such as customer service, internal productivity, technical assistance, or narrowly scoped interactions (like in video games or simple voice assistants)—and do not engage in open-ended, ongoing, or sensitive-topic conversations with users.
Bottom Line For Schools
Importantly, school administrators must note that the bill awaits passage by the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and approval by Governor Shapiro before it becomes law. Nonetheless, both the Senate’s bipartisan support and the Governor’s call to action suggest that schools should be proactive in planning how the act’s requirements will impact them.
We anticipate school administrators, parents and guardians, staff, and students will have questions on navigating the use of artificial intelligence to support teaching and learning. As of now, there are no specific implications or requirements for schools. Schools could prepare for internal reviews of any AI chatbot services they use to comply with legislative safeguards should it pass the House, but nothing is required of them. The bill seeks only to keep AI safer for minors. School administrators are encouraged to review and share the multi-agency AI Literacy Toolkit from the Pennsylvania Department of Education with the school community. The toolkit includes information to help parents talk to their kids about AI companion bots, strategies to help kids stay safe online, and guidance for using AI in the classroom.
Additionally, school administrators should consult with their leadership teams and legal counsel to review and revise school district policies related to the use of AI by students and employees.
