How a bill banning AI companions for kids could usher in widespread ID checks online

Sen. Josh Hawley's Guidelines for User Age-verification and Responsible Dialogue (GUARD) Act advanced out of the Senate Judiciary committee last week. "A Trojan horse for universal online ID checks," is how Jibran Ludwig of Fight for the Future described it. The bill would require anyone using an AI chatbot to provide proof of identity and ban minors from interacting with many sorts of AI chatbots entirely. Unlike some social media age verification bills, it would give parents no right to opt out of the rules the federal government sets on their kids' technology use. You are reading Sex & Tech, from Elizabeth Nolan Brown. Get more of Elizabeth's sex, tech, bodily autonomy, law, and online culture coverage. The GUARD Act is co-sponsored by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D–Conn.), who—like Hawley—has long been a champ at moral panic around technology. (Cue: Bipartisan is just another word for really bad idea…) And while some on the Senate Judiciary Committee expressed concerns about privacy or how this could actually backfire and harm minors, those senators still voted to advance the bill. It "easily passed in committee," notes The Hill, despite some senators' reservations: Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), who voted yes, said there are concerns