Comment by Randi Weingarten

The pace of the AI revolution has been blisteringly fast, and kids and parents are getting burned. Right now, our students are drowning in tech, and predatory 'social companion chatbots' are exploiting isolation and loneliness to foster toxic virtual relationships. Relationships are a deeply human endeavor; there is simply no algorithm for real trust or empathy. The People-First Chatbot Act builds on the protections in the GUARD Act and establishes the enforceable guardrails we desperately need. By forcing companies to dismantle manipulative design features, requiring strict safety checks for compulsive usage and banning the harvesting of kids' private data, this bill draws a clear line in the sand.