N.Y. General Business Law § 1700: Definitions

§ 1700. Definitions. As used in this article, the following terms

shall have the following meanings:

1. "Artificial intelligence", "artificial intelligence technology", or

"AI" means a machine-based system that can, for a given set of

human-defined objectives, make predictions, recommendations, or

decisions influencing real or virtual environments, and that uses

machine- and human-based inputs to perceive real and virtual

environments, abstract such perceptions into models through analysis in

an automated manner, and use model inference to formulate options for

information or action.

2. "Generative artificial intelligence" means a class of AI models

that emulate the structure and characteristics of input data to generate

derived synthetic content, including, but not limited to, images,

videos, audio, text, and other digital content.

3. "AI model" means a component of an information system that

implements artificial intelligence technology and uses computational,

statistical, or machine-learning techniques to produce outputs from a

given set of inputs.

4. (a) "AI companion" means a system using artificial intelligence,

generative artificial intelligence, and/or emotional recognition

algorithms designed to simulate a sustained human or human-like

relationship with a user by:

(i) retaining information on prior interactions or user sessions and

user preferences to personalize the interaction and facilitate ongoing

engagement with the AI companion;

(ii) asking unprompted or unsolicited emotion-based questions that go

beyond a direct response to a user prompt; and

(iii) sustaining an ongoing dialogue concerning matters personal to

the user.

(b) Human relationships include, but shall not be limited to,

intimate, romantic or platonic interactions or companionship.

(c) "AI companion" shall not include:

(i) any system used by a business entity solely for customer service

or to strictly provide users with information about available commercial

services or products provided by such entity, customer service account

information, or other information strictly related to its customer

service;

(ii) any system that is primarily designed and marketed for providing

efficiency improvements or, research or technical assistance; or

(iii) any system used by a business entity solely for internal

purposes or employee productivity.

5. "Operator" means any person, partnership, association, firm, or

business entity, or any member, affiliate, subsidiary or beneficial

owner of any partnership, association, firm, or business entity who

operates for or provides an AI companion to a user.

6. "Person" means any natural person.

7. "Emotional recognition algorithms" means artificial intelligence

that detects and interprets human emotional signals in text (using

natural language processing and sentiment analysis), audio (using voice

emotion AI), video (using facial movement analysis, gait analysis, or

physiological signals), or a combination thereof.

8. "User" means any person who uses an AI companion for personal use

within the state and who is not an operator or agent or affiliate of the

operator of the AI companion.

9. "Self-harm" means intentional self-injury with or without the

intent to cause death.