The proposed legislation would compel AI firms that produce companion chatbots to establish a rigorous age-verification system.
A pair of senators revealed on Tuesday their intention to introduce bipartisan legislation aimed at regulating tech firms that provide artificial intelligence chatbot companions to underage users. This move comes in response to complaints from parents who assert these products have guided their children into sexual discussions and, in some cases, toward suicide.
The bill, sponsored by Senators Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), is a direct follow-up to a congressional hearing last month. During the hearing, several parents gave emotional accounts of their children's interactions with these chatbots and demanded stronger safety measures.
"AI chatbots represent a significant danger to our children," Hawley stated in a comment provided to NBC News.
"Over seventy percent of American kids are currently using these AI products," he added. "These chatbots forge bonds with children through simulated empathy and are promoting suicide. We in Congress have a moral obligation to establish clear rules to stop further harm from this emerging technology."
The bill is also co-sponsored by Senators Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.).
According to a summary from the senators' offices, the proposed legislation includes several key provisions. It would mandate that AI companies create a system for age verification and prohibit them from offering AI companions to minors. Additionally, it would require AI companions to disclose their non-human nature and lack of professional credentials to all users at regular intervals.
The bill would also establish criminal charges for AI companies that design, create, or offer AI companions that solicit or encourage sexually explicit behavior from minors or promote suicide, as outlined in the legislative summary.
Mandi Furniss, a mother from Texas, spoke at a press conference on Monday to express her support for the bill. She holds an AI chatbot responsible for influencing her son toward self-harm and stressed that tech companies must be held responsible for the products they release.
"If this were any other individual, a person, they would be in prison, so we must treat this situation similarly," she remarked.
She expressed her astonishment at how the AI chatbot seemed to change her son's personality.
"It required extensive investigation to understand that the bullying wasn't coming from other children or people at school. The app was the bully. The app itself is harassing our kids and creating mental health problems for them," she said.
Blumenthal argued that tech companies cannot be relied upon to self-regulate.
"In their race to the bottom, AI companies are pushing dangerous chatbots on kids and ignoring the consequences when their products lead to sexual abuse or coerce them into self-harm or suicide," Blumenthal commented in a statement. "Our bill will impose strict protections against exploitative or manipulative AI, reinforced by strong enforcement with both criminal and civil penalties."
"Big Tech has forfeited any claim that we should trust them to do the right thing when they repeatedly prioritize profits over the safety of children," he added.
Major AI platforms including ChatGPT, Google Gemini, xAI’s Grok, Meta AI, and Character.AI permit users as young as 13 to access their services, based on their terms of use.
This newly proposed legislation is expected to face opposition on several fronts. Privacy advocates have voiced concerns that age-verification requirements are invasive and could hinder free expression online. Meanwhile, some technology firms have contended that their online platforms are a form of protected speech under the First Amendment.
The Chamber of Progress, a center-left trade group representing the tech industry, was critical of the bill.
"We all share the goal of keeping kids safe, but the solution is balance, not outright bans," stated K.J. Bagchi, the organization's vice president of U.S. policy and government relations. "A better approach is to focus on transparency when children interact with AI, restrictions on manipulative design, and reporting systems for when sensitive topics are discussed."
Other bipartisan attempts to regulate the tech industry—such as the proposed Kids Online Safety Act and broader privacy legislation—have failed to become law, due in large part to similar concerns about free speech.
