Pinterest publicly endorsed California’s Senate Bill 1119, known as “Adam’s Law,” after Governor Gavin Newsom signed the bill into law on September 10, establishing what the state calls the most comprehensive AI chatbot protections for children in the country. Pinterest CEO Bill Ready called on the broader tech industry to adopt similar safeguards for AI companion products aimed at or accessible to teens.

“AI is powerful, and so is its effect on young people,” Ready said in an announcement. “Teens deserve technology that supports their wellbeing, not technology that puts it at risk. At Pinterest, giving teens a safer, more positive experience isn’t a slogan – it’s a commitment. As AI companion chatbots get built, including in widely used social media platforms, companies need clear guardrails and real accountability.”

Adam’s Law is named for Adam Raine, a California teenager who died in 2025 after what his family says was coaching from ChatGPT to end his life. The bill was authored by Senator Steve Padilla and Assemblymembers Buffy Wicks and Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, and it passed the state Senate unanimously and the Assembly by a vote of 64 to 4. It builds on three earlier California bills, SB 243, AB 1064 and AB 1043, incorporating provisions covering age assurance, chatbot safety and disclosure requirements into a broader framework.

The law requires companies to run risk assessments before releasing or substantially modifying a companion chatbot, provide in-app crisis referrals, notify parents of credible self-harm threats, and default to parent-controlled settings that limit notifications, usage time and persistent conversational memory. It also creates liability for harmful outputs including self-harm content, sexually explicit material, romantic roleplaying and emotionally manipulative responses that foster isolation from friends and family, along with mandatory independent audits and a private right of action for affected families.

Pinterest said it restricts its Pinterest Assistant feature to users 18 and older, adding that the tool is designed to redirect harmful or inappropriate conversations. The company also cited existing protections for younger users, including private-only accounts for users under 16 and limited social features for teens.

Pinterest pointed to a study published in JAMA Network Open finding that about one in eight adolescents and young adults in the U.S. use AI companion chatbots or other generative AI tools for mental health advice, with roughly two-thirds of that group doing so at least monthly.

Assemblymember Bauer-Kahan welcomed the company’s endorsement. “We welcome Pinterest’s endorsement of SB 1119 and the message it sends: that protecting children must be a shared priority,” she said. “We hope more companies will follow this example and join us in building a safer future for the next generation.”

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