• by Wendy Davis , Yesterday

Two lawmakers said Tuesday they are introducing a bill that would prohibit companies from offering AI chatbot "companions" to minors under 18.

The Guidelines for User Age-verification and Responsible Dialogue Act of 2025 (GUARD Act), put forward by Senators Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut), also would require companies offering chatbots to verify all users' ages. Other provisions would require chatbots to disclose that they are not human.

"The pursuit of profits by Silicon Valley should not consume and destroy America's children," Hawley said at a press conference Tuesday.

He added that the emergence of AI chatbots is "a new frontier that will be a nightmare for the American family and American children unless Congress does its job."

Blumenthal added that large tech companies have "chosen profits over safety."

"Big tech is using our children as guinea pigs in a high tech high stakes experiment to make their industry more profitable," he said.

The tech industry funded policy group Chamber of Progress criticized the proposed law.

“We all want to keep kids safe, but the answer is balance, not bans,” Chamber of Progress vice president of U.S. policy and government relations K.J. Bagchi stated.

“It's better to focus on transparency when kids chat with AI, curbs on manipulative design, and reporting when sensitive issues arise," Bagchi added.

The bill comes as AI companies face increasing scrutiny over chatbots' interactions with teens -- including minors who committed suicide after communicating with chatbots.

The measure defines an AI companion as a chatbot that "provides adaptive human-like responses to user inputs" and "is designed to encourage or facilitate the simulation of interpersonal or emotional interaction, friendship, companionship, or therapeutic communication."

The bill also has content related provisions prohibiting anyone from knowingly (or recklessly) developing or making available a chatbot that that "poses a risk of soliciting, encouraging, or inducing" minors to engage in sexually explicit conduct or create visual depictions of such conduct. The measure also would outlaw developing or making available chatbots that encourage, promote or coerce suicide, self-injury or imminent physical or sexual violence.