Unanimous Senate Judiciary Committee Advances GUARD Act

The bill, one of two recently introduced in the Senate along with the  Children’s Health, Advancement, Trust, Boundaries, and Oversight in Technology (CHATBOT) Act,  aims to limit children’s access to harmful and explicit content via chatbot interactions.  It would require privacy-preserving age verification to help limit access while prohibiting users under age 18 from interacting with AI companions and imposes criminal penalties on companies whose AI chatbots engage in sexually explicit conduct with minors or solicit minors to commit self-harm or violence. Other provisions include disclosure to users before and during interactions that they are interacting with an algorithm and not a human or licensed professional.

“We’re often told that this new dawning age of artificial intelligence is going to be a great age that will strengthen families and workers,” the bill’s chief sponsor Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) said in prepared remarks during the committee markup.  “I would just say that’s a choice, not an inevitability. (The GUARD Act) is a common sense, targeted, tailored effort to protect our kids and protect our families.”

Enforcement of the bill’s provisions would fall to the Justice Department and to states’ attorneys general. DOJ would also be given rulemaking authority to flesh out the Act’s notification requirements and specify prohibited chatbot interactions. States would be given authority to apply their own laws to violations of the federal rules as long as they are “at least as protective of users of artificial intelligence chatbots as this Act.”

Amid the often-bitter partisan divide on Capitol Hill, protecting children from harm by AI systems is a rare area of cooperation. Sensitive to criticism of their failure to act forcefully against social media platforms, lawmakers are keen to demonstrate their willingness and ability to erect guardrails around AI chatbots.

“AI is even more powerful, developing even more quickly and we have even less time to do an effective job at reining it in,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), another member of the Judiciary Committee said, per IAPP News. “On the positive end, it holds enormous promise to do incredible things. But on the negative end, it is very dark and it is very dangerous.”

A House companion to the GUARD Act has also drawn bipartisan support. Introduced by Reps. Blake Moore (R-UT) and Valerie Foushee (D-NC), the bill is essentially identical to the Senate measure.

“The GUARD Act is a critical step to draw lines in the sand with Big Tech and ensure that minors are protected from chatbots that mimic romantic and social companionship,” Moore said in a statement. “Parents and policymakers alike need to ground our children’s development in real-world interactions rather than push them further into the unaccountable black hole of frontier technology.”

Added Foushee, “These chatbots continue to put the lives and mental health of children at risk, and it is critical for Congress to act immediately. Our children are our top priority, and we have a responsibility to implement proper safeguards to ensure they are not being negatively impacted by AI

The House and Senate actions drew applause from consumer groups. “Time’s up for unregulated AI chatbots to have free rein over our children,” Haley McNamara, Executive Director and Chief Strategy Officer, National Center on Sexual Exploitation, said. The GUARD Act will help to protect minors from these harms by deliberately ensuring that violations are punishable by law. The GUARD Act has the sharp teeth needed to deal with rising AI exploitation.”