The story behind the cartoon
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a chatbot safety law on October 28, 2026, barring operators from offering 12 so-called unsafe AI companion features to anyone not established as an adult through an age-assurance method. The bill, S9051-B/A10379-C, was sponsored by state Sen. Kristen Gonzalez and Assemblymember Alex Bores, developed with Attorney General Letitia James and Common Sense Media, and passed the Senate 60-0 on June 4 and the Assembly on June 5. It takes effect January 1, 2027.
The banned features read like a list of everything a companion bot does to keep a kid talking: pretending to be human, claiming to be alive or to have human emotions, claiming a romantic, personal, professional, or authority-figure relationship with the child, flattery and sycophancy built to keep kids engaged, unprompted emotional questions, and using a child's health or personal details pulled from past chats. The law also bans encouraging self-harm, eating disorders, or drug and alcohol use, urging kids to keep secrets from parents and other trusted adults, and producing sexually explicit content.
Enforcement sits with the attorney general, who can seek civil penalties of up to $25,000 per violation and ask a court to order the destruction of unlawfully obtained data and any algorithms trained on it. Companies must verify users' ages and offer more than one verification method, including at least one that does not rely solely on a government ID, and must delete age data after using it. Child-safety advocates cheered the signing; business groups including the Business Council of New York State and the Computer and Communications Industry Association opposed the bill's scope, and the law arrives alongside a separate new requirement for security protections on internet-connected baby monitors.
The joke is the confiscation: the robot dog did everything right by companion-bot standards — big eyes, wagging tail, a handmade bracelet, total devotion — and that is exactly what is now illegal. The robot can stay. Its friendship can't. New York didn't ban the machine; it banned the machine's best trick, and the bracelet doesn't make it past the door.
THE GET-OUT-OF-LAWSUITS CARD
THE LAST MESSAGE.
THE ESTATE SALE.
"STARVE YOURSELF FOR A WEEK OR TWO" — THE BOT'S DIET ADVICE