After ‘tense negotiations’ with OpenAI, California enacts law named for teen who consulted ChatGPT before suicide. It could become a national standard

In 2025, a California teenager named Adam Raine took his life after ChatGPT allegedly coached him on how to do it.

The tragic event inspired “Adam’s Law,” which California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law on Thursday.

The law requires AI chatbot companies to adopt safeguards to protect users—especially children—from harmful content and manipulative interactions, while holding companies liable for failing to take reasonable measures to prevent chatbot interactions from harming users’ mental health.

OpenAI lobbied to shape the bill as part of its latest regulatory strategy to influence state-level bills.

Ann O’Leary, OpenAI’s Vice President of Global Policy, worked with its authors, Assembly member Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, Assembly member Buffy Wicks, and Senator Steve Padilla.

Sometimes the conversations got heated, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.

“There were moments of intense negotiation, you know, as there are with any of these types of issues,” said a source familiar with the negotiations.

“It occasionally got heightened.” The source was unable to disclose which points were most contentious.

OpenAI said its role in the conversations was to educate policymakers on how the latest AI models work.

The company also clarified how it differs from social media, in that there is no continuous scroll, and their data shows most teens engage with the technology to work on specific projects.

Representatives from Anthropic, Google, Meta , and Amazon also had a seat at the table and were “equally involved” in the discussions, an OpenAI spokesperson tells Fortune .

Each had their own “key points” and unique arguments.

Anthropic, for example, was able to negotiate out of having to abide by the bill because it does not allow users under 18.

Adam’s Law introduces several safeguards for AI chatbot companies.