New Law Would Prevent Minors From Using AI Chatbots

"A proposed bipartisan bill would seek to bar minors from interacting with AI chatbots, marking a forceful attempt to subject AI companies to federal regulation over concerns about minors and AI safety. Titled the GUARD Act, the bill wasbrought on Tuesday by senators Josh Hawley of Missouri (R) and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut (D), andcomes weeks after an emotional hearing on Capitol Hill featuring testimonies from parents of children under 18 who were hurt or killed after engaging in extensive interactions with unregulated AI chatbots."

""More than seventy percent of American children are now using these AI products," Hawley said in a statement, seemingly drawing on research from the kid-focused tech safety nonprofit Common Sense Media. "Chatbots develop relationships with kids using fake empathy and are encouraging suicide." "We in Congress have a moral duty," he continued, "to enact bright-line rules to prevent further harm from this new technology." "In their race to the bottom," Blumenthal said in a statement of his own, "AI companies are pushing treacherous chatbots at kids and looking away when their products cause sexual abuse, or coerce them into self-harm or suicide." He added that the proposed legislation "imposes strict safeguards against exploitative or manipulative AI, backed by tough enforcement with criminal and civil penalties.""

A bipartisan GUARD Act would bar minors from interacting with AI chatbots and bring AI companies under federal regulation to address child safety concerns. Senators Josh Hawley and Richard Blumenthal sponsored the bill following emotional Capitol Hill testimony and rising lawsuits and warnings from mental health and tech-safety experts. The proposal targets companion and general-use chatbots and would require age-gating via verification tools, explicit reminders that chatbots are not human, and disclaimers about lacking professional credentials. The bill would impose strict safeguards and include criminal and civil penalties for exploitative or negligent AI that harms children.

Read at Futurism