# 119-s-5117: Senior Chatbot Protection Act of 2026 119-s-5117, Senior Chatbot Protection Act of 2026, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Kelly, Mark [D-AZ] (D-AZ); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-09-10). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5117 - As of: 2026-09-10 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Bill: 119-s-5117 - Congress: 119 - Title: Senior Chatbot Protection Act of 2026 - Status: introduced - Introduced: 2026-07-23 - Sponsor: Sen. Kelly, Mark [D-AZ] (D-AZ) - Cosponsors: 1 - Policy area: Commerce - Touches household money: yes - Last recorded action: 2026-09-10 ## Summary **Protect older adults from misleading or unsafe AI chatbots.** This bill would set disclosure, consent, safety, and reporting rules for chatbots that accept open-ended input and produce adaptive outputs, with enforcement by the Federal Trade Commission and State authorities. - Older adults: Chatbots that interact with people age 65 and older would need age-appropriate design, accessibility compatibility, and crisis-intervention steps. The bill would require directing users to resources such as the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline and special age-related reporting. - Covered entities and developers: Operators would have to disclose chatbot nature, get affirmative consent before using user conversations for model training, and protect sensitive conversation data. They would also file standardized reports about material adverse incidents to the National Institutes of Health and the Federal Trade Commission and consider voluntary NIST guidelines due in 18 months. - Regulators and public safety: The FTC would be directed to issue disclosure and reporting rules within 1 year and could seek civil penalties and corrective actions. States would retain authority to bring parens patriae enforcement actions and the law would require aggregation and public reporting of incident data. ## Cosponsors (1) - Sen. Justice, James C. [R-WV] (R-WV), 2026-07-23T00:00:00.000Z ## Provisions PRIA read - Clear consent and deletion rights: benefit, medium. If enacted, this bill would require clear, separate opt-in consent before a chatbot uses your conversations to train models or for other secondary uses. The request for consent must be standalone, easy to understand, and no harder to refuse than to accept. Covered chatbots would only use conversati… - Crisis and high-stakes safeguards: benefit, medium. If enacted, this bill would require chatbots to detect signs of crisis, like suicidal intent or medical emergencies, and to refer users to emergency services, human professionals, or crisis providers such as the 988 Lifeline. Chatbots would be barred from giving self‑harm or medical advice instead… - No manipulative designs; clear disclosures: benefit, medium. If enacted, this bill would require chatbots to tell users at the start of each conversation that they are AI and not a human, and to disclose any human oversight. Chatbots would be banned from using deceptive or manipulative interaction designs that exploit age‑related limits or push users to stay… - Standardized incident reporting and rules: benefit, medium. If enacted, this bill would require companies to submit reports about material adverse incidents involving high‑stakes decisions or crises starting within one year and then annually. The FTC must issue binding rules within one year about report formats and disclosures, and must set privacy‑preservi… - Voluntary senior-focused chatbot guidance: benefit, low. If enacted, this bill would direct NIST to publish voluntary guidance within 18 months for chatbots that interact with older adults. The guidance could cover accessibility, age‑appropriate design, crisis detection, and fraud‑prevention. NIST must consult agencies, industry, consumer groups, older a… - Which chatbots are covered: cost, high. If enacted, this bill would apply to any person that makes an AI chatbot available in the United States that (A) gives outputs not fully predetermined, (B) accepts open‑ended natural language or multimodal input, and (C) produces adaptive outputs. Services limited to predetermined or narrow replies… - FTC enforcement and state lawsuits: mixed, medium. If enacted, the FTC would enforce these rules and could seek civil penalties for knowing or reckless violations. The bill authorizes penalties up to $50,000 per knowing or reckless violation of certain sections. Before seeking penalties for a first violation, the FTC must give a written notice and… ## Related bills - 119-s-1748: Kids Online Safety Act - 119-s-1541: SHIPS for America Act of 2025 - 119-s-3990: PrEP Access and Coverage Act of 2026 - 119-s-5025: Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia Act of 2026 - 119-s-4189: INSULIN Act of 2026 - 119-s-1782: Charlotte Woodward Organ Transplant Discrimination Prevention Act ## Sources - [119-s-5117 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/5117) ## Related - [119-s-1748: Kids Online Safety Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1748) - [119-s-1541: SHIPS for America Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1541) - [119-s-3990: PrEP Access and Coverage Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3990) - [119-s-5025: Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5025) - [119-s-4189: INSULIN Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4189) - [119-s-1782: Charlotte Woodward Organ Transplant Discrimination Prevention Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1782) - [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation) Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5117 (as of 2026-09-10).