Congress mandates age checks for AI chatbots, bans minors from emotional AI.

What it does

This bill requires AI chatbots to verify users' ages before access, prohibits minors from using AI companions (emotionally interactive chatbots), and mandates clear disclosures that users are talking to AI, not humans. It criminalizes designing chatbots that knowingly solicit minors into sexual conduct or encourage self-harm, and gives the Attorney General and state attorneys general power to enforce these rules with fines up to $100,000 per violation.

Why we flagged it

The bill's operative mechanism is a protective mandate: age verification, access prohibition for minors to emotionally interactive AI, and criminal liability for chatbot operators who knowingly deploy systems designed to solicit minors into sexual conduct or self-harm. This is straightforward child-safety regulation, not a hidden carve-out or deregulation.

What the text implies

• Age verification systems will require collection of personal data (government ID or equivalent); the bill mandates data minimization and encryption, but third-party age-verification vendors will become intermediaries handling sensitive youth identity data, creating a new privacy-collection infrastructure.
• The definition of 'AI companion' (adaptive, human-like responses designed to encourage emotional/therapeutic simulation) is narrower than 'artificial intelligence chatbot' (any adaptive, open-ended system); general-purpose chatbots like ChatGPT may fall outside the AI companion ban but still face disclosure and age-verification requirements.

The full analysis lists 5 implications of this text.

Who stands to gain

Age verification service providers (third-party vendors offering identity verification); Data security and encryption technology vendors; Legal and compliance consulting firms advising AI companies on regulatory implementation