New York City proposes requiring businesses to offer a human customer-service option

New York City has proposed a rule that would require businesses using automated customer-service systems to disclose when customers are interacting with them and to provide an easy way to reach a human representative. The Department of Consumer and Worker Protection says the measure is meant to address automated interactions that repeatedly fail to resolve customers’ problems.

Under the proposal, it would be a deceptive and unconscionable trade practice to imply that customer service is available while repeatedly failing to address inquiries, or to respond with irrelevant, unresponsive or erroneous information. The rule would also bar businesses from evading responsibility for unlawful conduct involving AI and would require meaningful assistance whenever customer service is advertised.

The rule covers automated customer-service systems, which the department says can include AI chatbots as well as telephone voice-response systems. If adopted, it would give the department citywide enforcement authority over businesses that use those systems. Violators could face restitution for harmed consumers and civil penalties starting at $525.

The department said it published the proposal in the City Record on October 20, 2026. The public comment period, which includes a hearing, runs for 30 days; the department will review submissions before deciding whether to finalize and adopt the rule. The city says adoption would make New York the first municipality able to enforce this type of consumer protection.

In support of the proposal, the department cited Gartner figures indicating that chatbots resolve between 17% of billing disputes and 58% of returns or cancellations. Those figures are the city’s account of the advisory firm’s findings, not an evaluation conducted as part of the rulemaking.

The proposal builds on the city’s existing consumer-protection work, including a September policy statement that the department says covers representations made by chatbots and other agentic systems. The proposed customer-service rule is not yet in force; its requirements and enforcement provisions remain subject to the public-comment and adoption process.