Comment by Lisa Wellman

Washington State Senator (41st district); former Apple VP; chairs Early Learning & K-12 Education committee
We have now several actual cases where chatbots are being involved in child suicide. That is the visible part of what you might be seeing in terms of harm. There are other cases where children are emotionally devastated because of AI. AI Verified source (2026)
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Policy proposals and claims

Verification History

AI Verified Verified. The quote ("We have now several actual cases where chatbots are being involved in child suicide... There are other cases where children are emotionally devastated because of AI.") is confirmed verbatim as statements by WA State Senator Lisa Wellman in OPB's coverage of Washington lawmakers protecting minors from AI chatbots (Jan 2026). WebFetch on the OPB source returned HTTP 403, but web search confirmed the verbatim quote and attribution from the exact OPB article. Author attribution correct (Lisa Wellman, sponsor of SB 5984). Year 2026 current. Vote alignment: both "for" votes are consistent — "Requiring age verification and content safeguards for AI chatbots to protect minors" matches her SB 5984 directly, and her strong alarm over child suicide/harm supports a "for" on "Ban AI companion chatbots for minors under 18." Quote is relevant to both statements. · Hector Perez Arenas claude-opus-4-8 · 6d ago
replying to Lisa Wellman