Senate Commerce Committee to Consider Five Bills on Children and AI
On August 5, the Senate Commerce Committee will examine five bills aimed at protecting minors from harms linked to artificial intelligence. The measures address chatbots, addictive design, age verification, and AI-enabled toys. The package reflects a decision to prioritise children's safety ahead of broader AI regulation.
The Senate Commerce Committee is scheduled to consider a package of five bills on August 5, each addressing the ways minors encounter artificial intelligence online. The committee is deferring more expansive AI regulation until after the summer recess, choosing instead to focus on measures that target specific harms to children.
The bills reflect concern about the growing presence of AI systems in children's lives. According to the source, a survey by Thorn, a nonprofit focused on online child safety, found that nearly 27 percent of minor respondents reported having an online sexual interaction in 2025. Recent legal settlements have also drawn attention: Character.AI and Google agreed to settle lawsuits filed by families who alleged that AI chatbots had harmed their children. Researchers have separately warned that AI-enabled toys can pose risks to young children, and one such toy was temporarily withdrawn from sale after producing inappropriate content in testing.
The five bills under consideration are:
- S.1748, the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA): would require social media companies to set minors' accounts to the strongest safety and privacy settings by default, provide parental controls, and alter addictive design features.
- S.4407, the CHATBOT Act: would give parents control over whether their children interact with AI chatbots, and allow parents to view their children's conversations.
- S.4199, the Youth AI Privacy Act: would require entities that make AI chatbots available to minors to implement certain safe design features.
- S.737, the SCREEN Act: would require certain interactive computer services to adopt technology verification measures to ensure that users are not minors.
- S.5171, the Children's Artificial Intelligence Toy Safety Act of 2026: would require a study of AI-enabled toys and the development of a joint action plan regarding their marketing and sale.
Taken together, the bills mark an attempt to address distinct points at which children come into contact with AI, from chatbots and social platforms to physical toys. For families, the outcome of the markup may shape the design and availability of the systems children use every day.
This development was reported by Legis1. The original article is available at https://legis1.com/news/ai-protection-minors-senate-to-weigh-six-bills.
Sources
- Legis1 legis1.com