PRIA Logo™
119-hr-10719119th CongressWALLET

Protecting Kids from Human-Like Chatbots Act

Sponsored By: Representative Whitesides, George [D-CA-27]

Introduced

Summary

Non‑personified default for minors: AI chatbots must start in a clearly non‑human mode for users under 18. The bill assigns design duties to developers and deployment and account duties to providers and gives parents or authorized educators control over any change.

Show full summary
  • Families, parents, and minors: Parents and legal guardians have exclusive authority to change the non‑personified default for a minor's account. Chatbots must identify as AI, avoid portraying human emotions, and cannot prompt for companionship or solicit spending.
  • Developers and providers: Developers must build a separable non‑personified default as the initial setting unless the system "knows or has reason to know" a user is not a minor. Providers must keep that default active for minors, offer a parental controls framework, may not "nudge" minors to switch settings, and compliant developers and providers get conditional liability protections.
  • Schools, standards, and enforcement: Authorized educators can adjust settings for school‑provisioned accounts. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in coordination with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), will seek public input and publish interim guidance within 6 months and final guidance within 18 months, and the FTC enforces the Act.

Personalized for You

How does this bill affect your finances?

Personalize government policy and PRIA will tell you what this bill means for your household, plus every other piece of legislation we track. PRIA reads each provision against your financial profile to show you exactly what matters to your wallet.

Free to download

Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

4 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.

Default child-safe chatbot settings

If enacted, the bill would require chatbots likely to be used by minors to start in a non‑personified setting by default. That setting would identify the chatbot as AI, avoid acting human or encouraging emotional attachments, and could not be disabled without deliberate account action. Parents or legal guardians — and authorized school staff for school accounts — would control these settings through parental controls. Providers would have to keep the default on for users they know or reasonably believe are minors.

Federal enforcement and state lawsuits

If enacted, the bill would make violations enforceable by the Federal Trade Commission under the FTC Act. Each affected minor would count as a separate violation for provider failures, and each chatbot or version would count as a separate violation for developer failures. Companies would have 30 days after written FTC notice to fix a violation before each later day counts separately. State attorneys general could also sue on behalf of residents, but would generally have to notify the FTC before filing.

NIST guidance and age verification

If enacted, the bill would direct NIST, working with the FTC, to solicit public input and hold a workshop within 120 days. NIST would publish interim voluntary technical guidance within 6 months and final voluntary guidance within 18 months. The guidance would be voluntary and would include testing methods and examples. The bill would not force companies to use any specific age‑verification technology or to collect personal data they do not already collect.

Liability rules and state preemption

If enacted, the bill would give limited liability shields to providers that deploy a developer's compliant non‑personified default without material change, and to developers who meet the bill's design rules. A developer can lose protections if a provider makes the chatbot available to minors contrary to contractual prohibitions. The bill would preempt state or local laws only when they conflict, but would preserve state contract, tort, and product‑liability claims and allow stronger state protections for minors.

Sponsors & CoSponsors

Sponsor

Whitesides, George [D-CA-27]

CA • D

Cosponsors

  • Rep. Kennedy, Mike [R-UT-3]

    UT • R

    Sponsored 10/1/2026

  • Rep. Matsui, Doris O. [D-CA-7]

    CA • D

    Sponsored 10/1/2026

  • Rep. Miller-Meeks, Mariannette [R-IA-1]

    IA • R

    Sponsored 10/1/2026

  • Rep. Gottheimer, Josh [D-NJ-5]

    NJ • D

    Sponsored 10/22/2026

Roll Call Votes

No roll call votes available for this bill.

View on Congress.gov
Back to Legislation