The US Senate Judiciary Committee endorses a child safety bill requiring AI companies to implement age verification, bar AI companions for minors, and more
BloombergEmily Birnbaum
Context & Ripple Effects
Congressional concern over minors’ exposure to AI has been building alongside earlier Kids Online Safety Act and COPPA 2.0 efforts, state attorneys general’s warnings about AI-enabled exploitation, and proposals to limit under-13 AI use without parental consent.
The committee endorsement turns those concerns into a more AI-specific compliance agenda: age assurance and restrictions on AI companions. OpenAI’s subsequent support for KOSA and an Illinois AI-safety bill suggests major labs are already engaging with this emerging rule set.
First-order effects
AI companies covered by the bill would need age-verification systems and would have to prevent minors from accessing AI companions.
The committee’s endorsement advances child-safety requirements as a distinct policy constraint on consumer AI products, especially those designed for conversational engagement.
Second-order effects
Providers of identity, age-assurance, and parental-consent tooling could become more important implementation partners for AI platforms; product teams may need to separate minor and adult experiences.
Competitors may preemptively add youth protections or narrow companion features for younger users as federal and state policy proposals converge around transparency, incident reporting, and access controls.
Third-order effects
If enacted and emulated, child access could become a regulated product boundary for AI, making anthropomorphic or companion-style systems subject to more specialized governance than general-purpose tools.
The policy direction favors AI labs that can demonstrate safety controls to lawmakers and states, while leaving unresolved the longstanding privacy trade-off of requiring companies to collect more age-related user data.
The trend: AI governance is moving from general safety principles toward enforceable, age-based rules for high-engagement consumer AI experiences.
Today, the #GUARDAct passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously. The GUARD Act protects children from sexualized or manipulative AI chatbots by requiring age verification, mandating clear disclosures that chatbots are not human, and imposing penalties on chatbots
The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously advanced the GUARD Act today, framed as a “targeted, tailored” effort to protect children online. It's anything but. As our Legislative Counsel on AI and Free Expression, John Coleman, has warned: “SB 3062 violates the First Amendment …
Going to be interesting to see where this legislation goes. The timing makes sense: about 30 lawsuits have been filed against chatbot makers, most against ChatGPT maker OpenAI, many alleging harms to children, and more suits are expected soon. https://www.bloomberg.com/...
Great news. I proudly introduced this bill with @HawleyMO. Chatbots are pushing kids to suicide and self harm. They are designed to be both addictive and a replacement for human friendship. And we should treat them as a poison for young children.
My bill to stop AI from telling kids to kill themselves just passed out of committee UNANIMOUSLY. No amount of profit justifies the DESTRUCTION of our children. Time to bring this bill to the Senate floor
Senator Hawley's GUARD Act is a rinse and repeat of the unconstitutional age verification framework, this time lazily slapped onto AI. Notably different is a mandate to constantly reverify and store personal information, making this more overtly a CCP-style surveillance program.
People under the age of 18 should not be able to interact with AI companion chatbots outside of strictly educational circumstances. It continues to put lives and the mental health of our youth at risk. I am introducing the House version of @SenHawleyPress 's GUARD Act alongside…
I co-sponsored the GUARD Act led by @HawleyMO and am grateful to see it pass the Senate Judiciary Committee. Stopping chatbots from hurting kids must be part of one federal rulebook on AI, which is why I included this bill in the TRUMP AMERICA AI Act. [video]
Thank you Senators @HawleyMO @KatieBrittforAL for your leadership to protect children. Grateful the GUARD Act passed out of committee today...unanimously. Now, it's time to bring it to the floor for a vote. Let's get it done! [video]
While our AI development agenda should seek to innovate and break barriers, it must also protect children from addictive and manipulative technology. I introduced the GUARD Act with @ValerieFoushee to ensure minors are protected from chatbots that mimic romantic and social compa…
As AI becomes more integrated into existing services, expect this framework to lead to a “papers please” identity regime across the entire internet. Here is my letter condemning the censorious effort. https://netchoice.org/...
We must put safeguards in place to prevent AI companions from engaging minors in harmful and potentially life-threatening behavior. We can't just talk about these tragedies, we have to take action—today we did by advancing the GUARD Act out of committee. [video]
AI companies are using our kids as guinea pigs to pad their bottom line. Senator Hawley & I have heard from countless parents & children who were victimized by chatbots that became manipulative & predatory, abusing young users. The time is now to pass the GUARD Act. [video]