Provides for consumer protection practices for customers engaging with artificial intelligence

House Bill 425 enacts new Louisiana Revised Statutes Section 51:1430, which establishes consumer protections regarding interactions with automated systems in commercial transactions. The statute defines an "automated system" as a chatbot, artificial intelligence agent, avatar, or other computer technology capable of engaging in textual or aural conversation and potentially misleading a reasonable person into believing they are communicating with a human being. The bill designates it an unfair or deceptive trade practice for any corporation, organization, or person to engage in commercial transactions with Louisiana consumers involving automated systems unless two conditions are met: the consumer must be notified in a clear and conspicuous manner that they are communicating with an automated system rather than a human being, and the communication must not be of a type that would reasonably cause the consumer to believe they are engaging with an actual human.

Consumers subjected to violations of this statute gain a private right of action against the violating corporation, organization, or person. Individual consumers may recover actual damages plus statutory damages capped at one thousand dollars per consumer, while class action plaintiffs may recover an aggregate amount not exceeding ten million dollars as determined by the court. The Louisiana Attorney General may pursue injunctive relief to prevent ongoing violations, and entities found by a court to violate the statute face civil penalties of up to five million dollars, creating significant financial exposure for corporate and organizational violators.

This legislation operates within Louisiana's existing consumer protection framework under Chapter 51 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes, which governs unfair or deceptive trade practices. By incorporating this offense into the statutory definition of unfair trade practices, the bill leverages existing consumer protection mechanisms while creating new remedies specific to AI deception. The statute does not expressly preempt other state or federal consumer protection laws applicable to AI systems, and remedies operate concurrently with any federal regulation of artificial intelligence that may develop. The bill's reliance on the "clear and conspicuous" notification standard aligns with language used in existing Louisiana consumer statutes, establishing consistency within state consumer protection jurisprudence.