Senators Announce Bill That Would Ban AI Chatbot Companions For Minors

An anonymous reader quotes a report from NBC News: Two senators said they are announcing bipartisan legislation on Tuesday to crack down on tech companies that make artificial intelligence chatbot companions available to minors, after complaints from parents who blamed the products for pushing their children into sexual conversations and even suicide. The legislation from Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo, and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., follows a congressional hearing last month at which several parents delivered emotional testimonies about their kids' use of the chatbots and called for more safeguards.

'AI chatbots pose a serious threat to our kids,' Hawley said in a statement to NBC News. 'More than seventy percent of American children are now using these AI products,' he continued. 'Chatbots develop relationships with kids using fake empathy and are encouraging suicide. We in Congress have a moral duty to enact bright-line rules to prevent further harm from this new technology.' Sens. Katie Britt, R-Ala., Mark Warner, D-Va., and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., are co-sponsoring the bill.

The senators' bill has several components, according to a summary provided by their offices. It would require AI companies to implement an age-verification process and ban those companies from providing AI companions to minors. It would also mandate that AI companions disclose their nonhuman status and lack of professional credentials for all users at regular intervals. And the bill would create criminal penalties for AI companies that design, develop or make available AI companions that solicit or induce sexually explicit conduct from minors or encourage suicide, according to the summary of the legislation. 'In their race to the bottom, 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,' Blumenthal said in a statement. 'Our legislation imposes strict safeguards against exploitative or manipulative AI, backed by tough enforcement with criminal and civil penalties.'

'Big Tech has betrayed any claim that we should trust companies to do the right thing on their own when they consistently put profit first ahead of child safety,' he continued.

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