Modern regulations could require AI companies to check the age of everyone who uses their chatbots. Sense. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) introduced the GUARD Act on Tuesday, which would also ban anyone under 18 from accessing AI chatbots, as previously reported by NBC News.
Bill comes only a few weeks after safety advocates and parents attended a Senate hearing to draw attention to the impact of AI chatbots on children. Under the regulations, AI companies would have to verify age by requiring users to upload their ID or confirm through another “reasonable” method, which could include facial scanning, for example.
Under the bill, AI chatbots will have to reveal that they are not human every 30 minutes. They would also have to put in place safeguards to prevent them from claiming to be human, similar to the artificial intelligence security bill recently passed in California. The bill would make it illegal to operate a chatbot that produces sexual content for minors or promotes suicide.
“Our legislation imposes stringent safeguards against exploitative or manipulative artificial intelligence, backed by rigorous enforcement and criminal and civil penalties,” Blumenthal said in a statement to the agency Edge. “Big Tech has betrayed any claim that we should trust companies to do the right thing on their own if they consistently put profit over children’s safety.”