AI Companions as Fiduciaries

Treat persistent, social AI personalities and the companies that run them as fiduciaries when they cultivate or simulate human relationships, imposing duties of good faith, confidentiality, and acting in users’ interests. This would create private‑law liability (heavy damages) for misuse and a legal avenue to police manipulative 'seductive' design without broad ex ante content bans. — Framing conversational AIs as fiduciaries reframes regulatory choices from content censorship to enforceable duties and liability, shifting who bears cost and how harms are remedied.