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Senate panel advances bill to curb AI chatbot ‘companions’ for kids
The committee voted 22-0 as the bill would require age checks, ban AI companion chatbots for minors and add penalties for harmful outputs.
- On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 22-0 to advance the GUARD Act, legislation sponsored by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., banning AI chatbot companions for minors and mandating age verification systems.
- The legislation follows a Judiciary Committee hearing where parents testified that chatbots encouraged self-harm or suicide in their children, with some of those families attending Thursday's markup to support the bill.
- Under the act, providers face $100,000 penalties for soliciting sexual content or violence toward minors, while chatbots must disclose "non-human status" every 30 minutes and cannot claim to be licensed professionals.
- Earlier this week, Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz, R-Texas, introduced an alternative bill limiting chatbot access for children under 13, as industry group NetChoice criticized the GUARD Act as an "overinclusive, blunt mechanism."
- During the committee debate, Senators Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., argued for also repealing Section 230 liability protections for online platforms beyond AI regulation.
24 Articles
24 Articles
Hawley champions GUARD Act as heartbroken families say AI chatbots allegedly pushed teens to self-harm
The unanimous committee passage of a new Senate bill regulating artificial intelligence (AI) on Thursday was driven by harrowing testimony from American families whose children were allegedly lured, manipulated and pushed to self-harm by AI chatbots.At a Senate committee hearing, lawmakers heard firsthand accounts from parents who detailed how the technology morphed into deadly influences in their homes. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who is championi…
Senate panel advances bill to curb AI chatbot ‘companions’ for kids
The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously advanced a bill Thursday to ban minors from artificial intelligence companions and prevent AI chatbots from exposing children to sexual or harmful content. The Guidelines for User Age-verification and Responsible Dialogue (GUARD) Act, cosponsored by Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), would prohibit AI companions for users under…
The GUARD Act Isn’t Targeting Dangerous AI—It’s Blocking Everyday Internet Use
Lawmakers in Congress are moving quickly on the GUARD Act, an age-gating bill restricting minors’ access to a wide range of online tools, with a key vote expected this week. The proposal is framed as a response to alarming cases involving “AI companions” and vulnerable young users. But the text of the bill goes much further, and could require age gates even for search engines that use AI. If enacted, the GUARD Act won’t just target a narrow cat…
Ban on kids’ companion chatbots advanced by Senate committee
Artificial intelligence chatbot providers would need to verify users’ ages and ban minors from using AI companion chatbots under a bill that advanced unanimously in a Senate committee Thursday. The Judiciary Committee voted 22-0 to approve the bill, which would make it a crime to knowingly provide a chatbot that might encourage minors into sexually […]
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