Virginia's JCOTS studies chatbot rules after 2026 bills die

Two Virginia bills aimed at regulating companionship chatbots and minors, HB 635 and SB 796, died in the state's 2026 session and were referred to the Joint Commission on Technology and Science (JCOTS) to study, according to a TechPolicy.Press interview with the commission's chief policy analyst, Dr. Kira Allmann. Three experts in our Who's Who directory shared the piece.

Allmann told interviewer Justin Hendrix that the two bills fell to a broader chill on state AI laws. "Most, if not all, I think probably all were either tabled or died in the previous session because of concerns around the federal approach to AI legislation and the potential for repercussions for states that passed what were deemed onerous AI laws," she said. She cited a December 2025 White House executive order that threatened "the withdrawal of BEAD funding, which is broadband funding for states. And Virginia is a big recipient of BEAD funding."

JCOTS's research focuses on two design features Allmann says correlate with user harm. On prolongation, she said: "The risk of harm increase with longer conversations, with more turn-taking between users and chatbots." On anthropomorphism: "Chatbots do things like use personal pronouns, I, me, we express human kinds of emotions like feeling anxiety or distress." Current industry mitigation leans on static "I am not human" disclosures and periodic pop-ups. Allmann called that approach limited: "in some cases, users that have this pop-up appear, it can be actually very disorienting and even distressing, emotionally distressing to a user."

Rather than age-gating minors, Allmann favors what she calls a "curb cut" design approach: "If you put in a cut in the curb so that, for instance, wheelchair users can more easily cross the road, it's also great for other users of the road, like people pushing strollers." She is developing further research on regulatory sandboxes and sunset clauses for emerging technology.