The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, in a press release today:
U.S. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), John Curtis (R-Utah), and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) today introduced the CHATBOT Act, legislation that would put parents, not Big Tech, in charge of how children and teens interact with AI chatbots.
While AI chatbots can support a child’s learning, research, and creativity, they also pose real risks to minors, including exposure to inappropriate content, language, and addictive features. Some AI companies have even deployed rewards, notifications, and targeted advertising to drive prolonged engagement by adolescent users.
The Children’s Health, Advancement, Trust, Boundaries, and Oversight in Technology Act, or CHATBOT Act, would require AI companies to establish “family accounts” for parents to manage access and usage of AI chatbots by their children. AI chatbots would limit manipulative design features; require parental consent for chatbot usage and parental controls to access and monitor a child’s conversations with a chatbot; and prohibit targeted advertising to children. In addition, the bill would direct further study on potential chatbot-related harms to children and best practices for parents.
(When your products are so unpopular and flawed that Ted Cruz and Adam Schiff agree that something should be done, you know it’s bad.)
Here’s a bit from the bill’s one-pager:
Reports have alleged that some AI chatbots have encouraged self-harm, fostered emotional dependency, and exposed minors to sexually explicit content. Research notes that chatbots may also pose developmental risks, such as weakening memory recall and ability to distinguish between human and non-human relationships. Those dangers can grow more acute during prolonged interactions. Some companies use rewards, nudges, and notifications that can keep children hooked on conversations. They may even exploit a child’s or teen’s data for targeted advertising and incentivize minors to spend money inside these systems.
In addition to questions about whether design choices have considered the wellbeing of children, parents should be empowered to limit harmful features, protect privacy, and guide how these systems interact with their children. Policymakers, educators, and families need greater insight into how these tools can be safely used by children while protecting mental health and social development.
The solutions proposed by the legislation aren’t bad, but they don’t go far enough. If usage limits and other safeguards have failed our young children when it comes to social media, these tools don’t stand a chance when it comes ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and others.
Legislation should not put all of the responsibility for safety on parents. AI companies need to be regulated, and their products need strict safeguards in place when they are used by children. This bill would forbid companies from using minors’ personal data for targeted advertising and require them to build some basic tools for parents, but it does very little to address the addictive and harmful aspects of these products.
If you have any doubt about how inept Congress is when it comes to technology, look no further than the file name for the full text of the bill:
C:\Users\LAN\AppData\Local\Temp\LAN26253.loc
Is that a dumb thing to point out? Obviously. Is this ACT better than nothing? Of course. Do I think AI companies will continue to do what they want, how they want? Yep.