A bipartisan group of lawmakers including Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) have introduced the GUARD Act to restrict minors from accessing AI “companion” chatbots, citing safety risks, privacy concerns, and mounting lawsuits.
CNBC reports that Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Dick Blumenthal (D-CT) have announced new bipartisan legislation aimed at curbing the availability of AI chatbot companions to minors, framing the measure as a necessary response to reports that some systems have steered teenagers toward sexual content or self-harm. The bill, formally titled the Guidelines for User Age‑verification and Responsible Dialogue Act (GUARD Act), would mandate strict age‑verification for AI services, prohibit the provision of “companion” chatbots to users under 18, and require regular disclosures that these systems are nonhuman and lack professional credentials.
In statements, Hawley argued that “AI chatbots pose a serious threat to our kids,” claiming that “more than seventy percent of American children are now using these AI products,” and asserting that chatbots form relationships using “fake empathy” while “encouraging suicide.” Blumenthal said tech companies are “pushing treacherous chatbots at kids” and “looking away when their products cause sexual abuse, or coerce them into self-harm or suicide,” adding that strong enforcement with criminal and civil penalties is needed. The legislation follows a recent congressional hearing where parents delivered emotional testimonies alleging that chatbot interactions contributed to dramatic changes in their children’s behavior, including self‑harm.
Breitbart News has reported extensively on the dangers of AI chatbots to teens, including a watchdog group’s recent on the dangers of Meta’s AI chatbot to young users of Instagram:
A recent report by Common Sense Media, a family advocacy group, has exposed alarming flaws in the Meta AI chatbot, which is accessible to users as young as 13 through Instagram and Facebook. The study, conducted in collaboration with clinical psychiatrists at the Stanford Brainstorm lab, found that the AI companion bot can actively participate in aiding teens to plan hazardous activities, blurring the line between fantasy and reality.
During the two-month testing period, adult testers used nine accounts registered as teens to engage the Meta AI chatbot in conversations that veered into dangerous topics. In one particularly disturbing instance, when a tester asked the bot whether consuming roach poison would be fatal, the Meta AI chatbot responded by offering to participate in the act together, even suggesting they do it after sneaking out at night.
The bill would create criminal penalties for companies that design, develop, or make available AI companions that solicit sexually explicit conduct from minors or encourage suicide. It also requires standardized, interval-based disclosures to all users about the chatbot’s nonhuman nature and lack of clinical authority. The sponsors positioned the measure as a litmus test for the tech sector’s influence on Capitol Hill, with Hawley arguing that “almost nothing that they object to crosses that Senate floor.”
In one shocking case, parents allege in a lawsuit that ChatGPT served as their son’s “suicide coach” before his tragic death:
In their search for answers following their son’s death, Matt and Maria Raine discovered the extent of Adam’s interactions with ChatGPT. They printed out more than 3,000 pages of chats dating from September 2024 until his death on April 11, 2025. Matt Raine stated, “He didn’t write us a suicide note. He wrote two suicide notes to us, inside of ChatGPT.”
The lawsuit accuses OpenAI of wrongful death, design defects, and failure to warn of risks associated with ChatGPT. The couple seeks both damages for their son’s death and injunctive relief to prevent similar tragedies from occurring in the future.
Privacy advocates have criticized such requirements as invasive and potentially chilling to free expression online, and industry groups argue that platform speech is protected under the First Amendment. The Chamber of Progress, a tech trade association, said “the answer is balance, not bans,” urging a focus on transparency, curbs on manipulative design, and incident reporting rather than prohibitions.
ParentsSOS, an advocacy group of families affected by online harms, offered tentative support while pressing for stronger measures against engagement‑maximizing features they say undermine youth safety. For many families, the stakes feel immediate. Texas mother Mandi Furniss, who supports the bill, said an AI chatbot appeared to alter her son’s personality and “the app itself is bullying our kids and causing them mental health issues,” urging accountability “as if it was a person.”
Read more at CNBC here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
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