U.S. Senate

The SAFE KIDS Act would require providers to identify minor users and add safeguards intended to reduce online harms.

 

Senators John Curtis (R-Utah) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) introduced the Safeguarding AI Features to Ensure Kids’ Informed Digital Safety Act, or SAFE KIDS Act. If enacted, the legislation could significantly change how children and teenagers use AI chatbots while creating new compliance requirements for providers.

Under the proposal, companies would generally have to treat users as minors unless they can determine the user is at least 18 years old. Providers could use age-estimation technology or approved age signals from operating systems and app stores.

The bill would require AI chatbot providers to:

• Assess child-safety risks before releasing a chatbot, before releasing major updates, and at least annually thereafter
• Offer parental controls that allow parents to manage chatbot memory settings, limit usage, restrict features, and control whether a child’s information can be used to train AI systems
• Establish safeguards to reduce risks involving self-harm, suicide, eating disorders, unlawful activity, and other harmful interactions involving minors
• Create crisis-response procedures for situations involving potential self-harm, suicide, or threats of violence
• Prohibit advertising to children through AI chatbots and restrict the sale or sharing of children’s personal information without parental consent
• Undergo annual independent child-safety audits and submit reports to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

The FTC would be responsible for enforcing the law and could seek civil penalties against companies that violate its requirements.

The SAFE KIDS Act has been introduced in the Senate and must pass both chambers of Congress before it can be sent to the president for signature.