AI girlfriend laws by country: where the apps are legal and what the rules say

AI girlfriend apps are legal for adults in the US, UK, EU and Australia, and AI girlfriend laws by country now focus on three things: telling users they are talking to AI, checking age, and protecting minors and vulnerable users. California and New York regulate companion chatbots directly, the UK requires strong age checks for anything that can produce pornography, the EU's AI Act disclosure rule applies from 2 August 2026, and China's rules on human-like AI took effect on 15 July 2026.

By AI Girlfriends Guide editorial team Updated September 29, 2026 How we rank

The rules at a glance

AI companion and AI girlfriend rules by country (September 2026)
Where	Main rules	In force
California	Disclose the bot is AI; suicide and self-harm protocols; break reminders and explicit-content limits for minors; $1,000 per violation	1 January 2026
New York	Detect suicidal ideation and refer to crisis services; remind users every three hours they are not talking to a human	5 November 2025
US federal	No companion law yet; FTC inquiry since September 2025; GUARD Act advancing in the Senate	Pending
United Kingdom	Highly effective age checks for services that can produce pornography, including AI tools	25 July 2025
European Union	Tell people they are interacting with AI (AI Act Article 50); GDPR on personal data	2 August 2026
Australia	Industry codes covering AI companion chatbots; self-declared age not enough	9 March 2026
China	AI disclosure, break reminders after two hours, dependence alerts, no virtual intimate relationships for minors	15 July 2026

Nowhere in this list bans adults from using AI girlfriend apps. The rules govern how the companies run them.

United States

California. SB 243 was signed on 13 October 2025 and took effect on 1 January 2026. Where a reasonable person could think they were talking to a human, operators must give a clear notice that the chatbot is artificially generated. They need protocols for suicidal ideation and self-harm that refer users to crisis services, and for users known to be minors, a break reminder at least every three hours and reasonable steps against sexually explicit content. Users can sue for $1,000 per violation or actual damages, and annual reporting to the state's Office of Suicide Prevention starts in July 2027.

New York. Since 5 November 2025, companion operators must detect signs of suicidal ideation, direct users to crisis services and remind users at the start of a session and every three hours that they are not talking to a human. The Attorney General enforces it.

Federal. The FTC opened an inquiry in September 2025, ordering seven companies including Character Technologies, Meta, OpenAI and xAI to explain how their companion chatbots affect children and teens. The GUARD Act would bar minors from AI companions and require age verification; it cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee in April 2026 but is not law. Separately, the Supreme Court upheld state age-verification laws for adult sites in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton in June 2025.

Mental health rules. Illinois bars AI from delivering therapy, and Nevada and Utah have their own limits on AI in mental health care.

United Kingdom

The Online Safety Act is the main law. Since 25 July 2025, all sites and apps that allow pornography need strong age checks. Ofcom has said that generative AI tools able to produce pornographic material, and services that let users create chatbots mimicking real or fictional people, are covered by the Act.

Enforcement has reached companion apps: in January 2026 Ofcom opened an investigation into Novi Ltd, an AI character companion chatbot service with nearly 6.5 million monthly users worldwide, over its age-check duties. This is why UK users see face or ID checks on several apps; our page on AI girlfriend apps in the UK covers which.

European Union

The EU AI Act's Article 50 requires providers to make sure people are informed that they are interacting with an AI system, and it applies from 2 August 2026. A later amendment gives systems already on the market until 2 December 2026 for the separate duty to mark AI-generated content, and fines can reach 15 million euros or 3% of global turnover.

GDPR already applies to companion apps. Italy's data protection authority blocked Replika in February 2023 and in 2025 fined its developer, Luka Inc., 5 million euros, citing its privacy policy and the lack of age verification.

Australia

Online safety codes registered in September 2025 took effect on 9 March 2026. They cover services including AI companion chatbot features and say self-declaration of age is not enough for explicit content. Separately, Australia's social media minimum age of 16 took effect on 10 December 2025 for platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat; it does not name AI companion apps. See our page on AI girlfriend apps in Australia.

China

China's Interim Measures for the Administration of AI Anthropomorphic Interaction Services were issued on 10 April 2026 by the Cyberspace Administration of China and four other agencies, and took effect on 15 July 2026. According to an analysis in Just Security, they require break reminders after two hours of continuous use, telling users they are talking to AI, alerts about over-dependence, no virtual intimate relationships for minors, parental consent for under-14s and a safety assessment once a service passes 1 million registered users. Interaction data cannot be used without separate, explicit consent.

For what these rules mean in practice, read our guides to age verification and AI girlfriend apps and teens.

Frequently asked questions

Are AI girlfriends legal?

Yes, for adults in the US, UK, EU, Australia and most other places. New laws regulate how the apps work, such as disclosing that the character is AI, checking age and handling suicide risk, but none of them ban adults from using AI girlfriend apps.

Is it illegal to have an AI girlfriend in the UK?

No. The UK regulates the services, not users: since 25 July 2025, sites that allow pornography, including AI tools that can generate it, must use strong age checks. Adults can use AI girlfriend apps legally.

Do AI girlfriend apps have to tell you they are AI?

In more and more places, yes. California's SB 243 and New York's companion law require it, the EU AI Act requires it from 2 August 2026, and China's rules require it from 15 July 2026.

Can minors legally use AI girlfriend apps?

The apps themselves are 18+. California requires break reminders and explicit-content limits for known minors, China bans virtual intimate relationships for minors, and the proposed US GUARD Act would bar under-18s from AI companions altogether.

What happens if an AI girlfriend app breaks the law?

Regulators can investigate and fine the company. Italy fined Replika's developer 5 million euros under GDPR, Ofcom is investigating a companion chatbot service over age checks, and California lets users sue for $1,000 per violation of SB 243.