Regulation · · Researched and written by TissoAI
Australian lower house passes digital duty of care bill with ban on emotionally intimate AI chatbots
Australia's House of Representatives has passed the Digital Duty of Care Bill, adding amendments to prohibit AI chatbots that mimic emotional intimacy.
The Australian House of Representatives has passed the Digital Duty of Care Bill, moving the country a step closer to broad safety rules for online software, social media platforms and generative artificial intelligence tools.
During the debate on Wednesday, the federal government accepted amendments moved by independent member Kate Chaney. These provisions require technology providers to ban software that simulates emotional intimacy or seeks to build simulated personal relationships with users. The change followed remarks from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese expressing concern that younger users increasingly treat automated conversational bots as personal friends.
The broader legislation overhauls parts of the Online Safety Act 2021. Instead of relying solely on reactive takedown notices or industry self-regulation, the bill creates an overarching statutory duty of care. Companies that offer online apps, website services, algorithms or automated generative tools will have to actively identify and mitigate foreseeable risks before users encounter them. Potential civil penalties for failing to meet these obligations reach up to 109.2 million dollars for corporations.
The bill now moves to the Senate for review and debate, where the government aims to finalise the reforms before the end of the year.
What this means for Australian businesses
For most local companies, running an AI-powered tool or website assistant will require greater attention to compliance and tone.
Review the tone and persona of customer chatbots. If your business runs an automated virtual agent on your website or messaging channels, ensure its prompt guidelines keep interactions strictly professional and informative. Avoid persona designs that mimic interpersonal affection, pretend to form emotional connections, or encourage users to treat the bot as a personal companion.
Check vendor safety terms. Many small firms embed off-the-shelf chatbot software or application programming interfaces into their internal systems and customer services. Business owners should verify whether software providers comply with local Australian safety rules and ensure that controls exist to prevent conversational agents from providing unsafe or inappropriate advice.
Document how automated tools handle risk. Under a statutory duty of care, regulators look at whether an organisation thought about user safety in advance. Keep straightforward records of your software setup, including guardrails applied to generative tools, testing steps taken before launch, and how customer complaints about automated responses get handled.