Ohio proposes law that would make marriages between humans and AI impossible

In the state of Ohio, USA, a bill was recently introduced that would prohibit legal marriages between humans and AI programs, writes Gizmodo.

Such unions already exist in real life. Some people enter into symbolic "marriages" with their romantic chatbots. Often they still have human partners, but they say they feel a deeper connection with the AI.

The bill's sponsor, Representative Thaddeus Claggett, chairman of the Ohio House of Representatives Technology and Innovation Committee, said the bill's goal is not to stop people from emotionally connecting with chatbots, but to protect legal rights. House Bill 469 prohibits recognizing an AI system as a spouse or civil partner and does not allow artificial intelligence programs to receive legal status similar to marriage. Any attempts to "marry" an AI would be legally invalid.

According to Claggett, the law should prevent AI from gaining the powers that marriage grants, including the right to make financial decisions or represent a person in legal matters.

"As the computer systems improve in their capacity to act more like humans, we want to be sure we have prohibitions in our law that prohibit those systems from ever being human in their agency," he said.

It is currently unknown how much support the bill has among other state legislators. The bill, introduced in September 2025, is being discussed in a committee in the Ohio House of Representatives.