Cruz, Schatz’s CHATBOT Act Advances to the Senate Floor  

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation advanced S. 4407, the Children’s Health, Advancement, Trust, Boundaries, and Oversight in Technology (CHATBOT) Act, with unanimous support. The legislation, authored by Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), makes AI chatbots safer for children and teenagers. It will now advance to the full Senate for consideration.  

While AI chatbots can support a child’s learning, research, and creativity, they can also pose real risks to minors, including exposure to addictive features, obscene content, and pro-suicide messaging. The CHATBOT Act would put parents, not Big Tech, in charge of how children and teens use and interact with AI chatbots.  

The bill would require AI companies to establish “family accounts” for parents to oversee and control the use of AI chatbots by their children and consent to a teen’s use of a chatbot. Companies would be required to set their design features and settings to the most protective setting by default. The bill would also direct AI companies to take reasonable efforts to prevent chatbots from sharing obscene content with children and teens or materially assisting suicide. 

Upon approval bv the committee, Chairman Cruz said: “Today, the Commerce Committee advanced the CHATBOT Act to the Senate floor, taking an important step toward ensuring parents can oversee their children’s use of chatbots and protect them from content that is obscene or that glorifies suicide. With the right guardrails in place, AI can expand educational opportunities without compromising a child’s safety or well-being. The CHATBOT Act helps ensure America leads the world in developing and deploying AI responsibly.” 

Senator Schatz said: “AI is everywhere, and it poses real risks to children. Our bipartisan bill will mandate common-sense safeguards for children and teens while giving parents the ability to manage AI use by young kids. Congress has a responsibility to protect kids, and I’m glad we’re one step closer to passing this bill into law.” 

The following groups support the legislation: 3Strands Global Foundation, America First Policy Institute, Americans for Responsible Innovation (ARI), American Counseling Association, American Federation of Teachers, American Principles Project, Bull Moose Project, Citizens for Renewing America, Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee, David’s Legacy Foundation, Digital Progress Institute, Encode AI, Enough is Enough, HSA Coalition, Interparliamentary Taskforce on Human Trafficking, NCOSE, Pearl at the Mailbox, and Street Grace.  

Find a full list of supporting statements HERE.