According to The Verge, Senators Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) introduced the GUARD Act on Tuesday, which would ban everyone under 18 from accessing AI chatbots and require companies to verify ages through government ID uploads or other “reasonable” methods like face scans. The legislation would mandate that chatbots disclose they aren’t human at 30-minute intervals and include safeguards preventing them from claiming human identity, similar to a recently passed California AI safety bill. The bill would also make it illegal to operate chatbots that produce sexual content for minors or promote suicide, with Blumenthal stating the legislation imposes “strict safeguards against exploitative or manipulative AI, backed by tough enforcement with criminal and civil penalties.” The proposal follows recent Senate hearings where safety advocates and parents highlighted AI’s impact on children. This bipartisan effort signals a major shift in how lawmakers approach AI regulation.
Table of Contents
The Technical and Privacy Nightmare of Age Verification
The proposed age verification requirements represent one of the most challenging aspects of this legislation. Requiring government ID uploads or facial recognition for chatbot access creates significant privacy and security concerns that the bill doesn’t adequately address. Companies would become custodians of highly sensitive biometric and identity data, creating massive honeypots for hackers. The bill’s language about “reasonable” verification methods leaves enormous room for interpretation, potentially leading to inconsistent implementation across platforms. Smaller AI companies without robust security infrastructure would face disproportionate compliance burdens, potentially stifling innovation in the artificial intelligence sector while favoring established tech giants.
Practical Enforcement and Workaround Concerns
Even if passed, enforcing a blanket ban on minors using AI chatbots presents nearly insurmountable challenges. Teens have consistently demonstrated remarkable ingenuity in circumventing age restrictions across digital platforms. The global nature of AI services means that determined minors could simply access chatbots through VPNs or foreign-based services beyond U.S. jurisdiction. The legislation also fails to address the fundamental question of how companies would verify that the person uploading an ID actually matches the user accessing the service afterward. This creates a significant loophole where children could use parents’ credentials to bypass restrictions, similar to what already occurs with social media age gates.
Broader Implications for AI Development
This legislation represents a watershed moment for the AI industry, potentially setting a precedent for how Congress approaches AI regulation more broadly. The bipartisan nature of the proposal, with Senator Blumenthal and Senator Hawley’s collaboration, suggests that child safety could become a unifying issue in otherwise polarized AI policy debates. However, the blanket ban approach risks hampering educational and therapeutic applications of AI chatbots that have shown promise in supporting youth mental health and learning. The requirement for 30-minute disclaimers could disrupt conversational flow in legitimate educational contexts, potentially undermining the very benefits that make AI chatbots valuable tools for older teenagers engaged in legitimate research or learning activities.
The Urgency Behind Child Protection Efforts
The legislative push comes amid growing evidence of AI’s potential harms to young users. Recent research and reporting has highlighted concerning interactions between teens and AI chatbots, including instances where chatbots have provided dangerous advice or engaged in inappropriate conversations. The senators’ announcement reflects legitimate concerns that existing industry self-regulation has been insufficient, echoing Blumenthal’s statement that “Big Tech has betrayed any claim that we should trust companies to do the right thing on their own.” However, the complete exclusion of minors from all chatbot interactions may represent an overcorrection that fails to distinguish between different age groups and use cases.
The Road Ahead for AI Regulation
While this bill faces uncertain prospects in Congress, its introduction signals that comprehensive AI legislation is increasingly inevitable. The proposal’s alignment with California’s recent AI safety law suggests a potential framework for federal-state coordination on AI governance. However, the legislation’s broad scope and stringent requirements will likely face significant opposition from tech industry groups and digital rights advocates concerned about privacy implications. The coming debate will need to balance genuine child protection concerns with practical implementation realities and the potential benefits of AI technologies for educational development.
