Iowa Senate File 2417, the Conversational AI Services Act, is an Iowa statute regulating conversational AI services with a focus on minors. It requires operators to disclose to minor account holders that they are interacting with AI rather than a human or a licensed professional, prohibits services from leading users to believe they provide professional mental-health care, and requires self-harm-response protocols and parental controls. Governor Kim Reynolds signed the bill on 2026-05-06, with a delayed effective date of 2027-07-01.
| Jurisdiction | Iowa |
| Bill ID | Senate File 2417 (91st General Assembly) |
| Codified at | New Iowa Code Chapter 554J — "Conversational AI services" |
| Status | Signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds on 2026-05-06 |
| Effective | 2027-07-01 |
Status and timeline
SF 2417 moved through the Iowa Legislature with unanimous, bipartisan support. It cleared the Iowa Senate with no opposing votes and was then passed unanimously by the Iowa House in mid-April 2026 (Source: govtech.com). Governor Kim Reynolds signed the bill on 2026-05-06, with a delayed effective date of 2027-07-01 to give operators time to comply (Source: transparencycoalition.ai). The law is codified as new Iowa Code Chapter 554J, "Conversational AI services" (Source: legis.iowa.gov).
Scope and definitions
SF 2417 applies to conversational AI services, defined as AI-powered programs designed to converse with human users. The statute's obligations are framed around minor account holders rather than the general consumer population, placing it within the child-safety strand of state AI regulation rather than the broader consumer-protection strand exemplified by Illinois's general consumer-facing Consumer AI Notice Act.
Key provisions
The Act imposes the following core obligations on operators:
- Disclosure to minors. An operator must clearly and conspicuously disclose to a minor account holder that the minor is communicating with artificial intelligence and not a human, and not a licensed professional.
- No false professional-care impersonation. The service is prohibited from knowingly or intentionally leading a user to believe it is designed to provide professional psychological or behavioral health services, addressing chatbots presenting as therapists.
- Self-harm-response protocols. Operators must adopt protocols for handling user prompts that indicate suicidal ideation or self-harm.
- Parental controls. Companies operating AI chatbots must allow parents to control a minor's privacy and account settings.
The legislative record ties the bill directly to chatbot-linked self-harm among young users, the same harm pattern at issue in Garcia v. Character Technologies, Inc. and Raine v. OpenAI, Inc. and in the broader AI Mental Health and Psychological Harm debate.
Enforcement and penalties
Violations carry civil penalties of up to $1,000 per violation. The Act establishes requirements and guidelines for conversational AI services and provides civil penalties and applicability provisions; it does not create a broad private right of action of the kind seen in some other state AI statutes (Source: legis.iowa.gov).
Reactions
In House debate, Rep. Austin Harris (R-Moulton) framed the bill as a response to documented cases of AI chatbots encouraging users seeking mental-health support to self-harm, calling it "at least a start" (Source: govtech.com). Rep. Wichtendahl indicated that lawmakers intend to pursue further chatbot regulation.
SF 2417 is part of a cluster of state laws regulating conversational and companion chatbots, alongside California SB 243 — Companion Chatbots, Idaho SB 1297 — Conversational AI Safety Act, Nebraska LB525 — Conversational AI Safety Act + Agricultural Data Privacy Act, Tennessee SB 1580 / HB 1470 — AI Mental-Health Professional Impersonation Prohibition, Utah HB 276 — Digital Voyeurism Prevention Act + Digital Content Provenance Standards Act, and others. These statutes converge on two recurring requirements: mandatory disclosure that a user is communicating with a bot, and prohibition of mental-health-professional impersonation. The convergence of Iowa, Illinois, California, and other states on near-identical disclosure language is one example of state-level AI-law convergence in the absence of a federal standard (see State-Level AI Regulation). Where Illinois's consumer-facing Illinois SB 317 — Consumer Artificial Intelligence Notice Act targets the general consumer population, Iowa's law targets minor account holders specifically and pairs disclosure with self-harm protocols and parental controls.
Relationships
- related: Illinois SB 317 — Consumer Artificial Intelligence Notice Act — Illinois's consumer-facing AI-disclosure law; SF 2417 is the minor-specific counterpart.
- related: California SB 243 — Companion Chatbots, Idaho SB 1297 — Conversational AI Safety Act, Tennessee SB 1580 / HB 1470 — AI Mental-Health Professional Impersonation Prohibition — sibling state chatbot-safety statutes.
- related: State-Level AI Regulation — the state-law convergence pattern SF 2417 is part of.
- related: AI Mental Health and Psychological Harm — the chatbot self-harm and companion-AI harm debate the law responds to.
- related: Garcia v. Character Technologies, Inc., Raine v. OpenAI, Inc. — litigation over the same chatbot self-harm harms.
Sources
- (Source: legis.iowa.gov) — Iowa Legislature BillBook, SF 2417 (91st General Assembly); new Iowa Code Chapter 554J, "Conversational AI services."
- (Source: govtech.com) — GovTech / The Gazette, "Iowa Bill Restricting AI Chatbots Heads to Governor's Desk" (Apr 16, 2026): unanimous passage, disclosure and self-harm-protocol provisions, parental controls, legislative-intent quotes.
- (Source: transparencycoalition.ai) — Transparency Coalition AI Legislative Update (May 8, 2026): confirms Gov. Reynolds signed SF 2417 into law.