Comment by Ethics and Public Policy Center

AI companions are unsafe for children, and yet they are all too easy to access. Just as we have done for pornography websites, EPPC is putting forth a new model bill that would age restrict AI companions entirely out of childhood. The burden is currently on individual parents to find and close off every point where a child could access an AI companion, a near impossible task in our digital age. This model bill would place that burden squarely on the shoulders of the AI companies themselves, requiring them to conduct safe and secure age verification. • The model requires AI companion chatbot platforms to perform reasonable age verification methods to verify that users are not minors (younger than 18 years old). • It also requires that all identifying information used to verify age or shall not be retained once access to the platform is granted. Companies are legally required to delete any such information. This helps ensure user privacy.