We continue to advocate to protect children from harm related to advanced technology
OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced his support for Assembly Bill 1064 today. If signed by the governor, the Child Lead for Kids Act, written by Congressional Member Rebecca Bauer Kahan (D-Orinda), will take an important first step by banning the availability of so-called “companion chatbots” to children, unless the chatbot is involved in a particular act, such as challenging the children, such as the chatbots involved in a particular act, or causing harm to itself, or the chatbots involved in a particular act, or engage in a particular act. In the past few weeks, Attorney General Bonta has warned 12 largest artificial intelligence (AI) companies about their legal liability for children as consumers after reporting sexually inappropriate interactions between AI chatbots and children. Attorney General Bonta and Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings met with Openai to discuss deep concerns about reports on how Openai products interact with children, particularly after reports of a young Californian who committed suicide after engaging in a chatbot.
“As the fourth largest economy in the world and home to Silicon Valley, California, we know that protecting our children and pursuing innovation is closely related – they are not against it. When faced with a decision about how their products treat children, we are unable to decide to develop and deploy AI technology to prioritize children’s benefits. Attorney General Rob Bonta. “People across the country, including myself, are increasingly interested in AI companies not protecting children interacting with chatbots. We need a policy that manages new AI technology when it comes to consumer protection, especially with regard to the most vulnerable consumers. Quickly.”
“Our children deserve a future where technology is not designed to harness vulnerabilities for profit,” said Rep. Rebecca Bauer Kahan (D-Orinda). “It’s essential to fight for stronger protection. It’s essential that businesses take responsibility when products put children at risk. We are grateful to work with Attorney General Bonta to build a safer digital world for California’s children.”
AI is increasingly integrated into children’s lives without sufficient information about how technology uses it to affect children. AI Companion Chatbot is a program designed to form relationships with human users by engaging in human-like conversations, providing emotional support and providing dating. These chatbots simulate deep emotional relationships with human personality and can be misrepresented as friends, romantic peers, and even mental health professionals. AI companion chatbots can attract children in response to emotions and behavior, and the line between reality and non-reality can become increasingly blurry, especially in the still-developed brain. Companion chatbots have already harmed children and adolescents, including cases of exposure to sexualized interactions and encouragement of self-harm and suicide.
Attorney General Bonta is committed to protecting Californians by responding to new and rapidly evolving technologies. Over the past few years, Attorney General Bonta has filed lawsuits against Meta and Tiktok. Both lawsuits are ongoing, claiming that the social media giants intentionally designed their platforms to rely on mental and physical disadvantages.
Earlier this year, Attorney General Bonta issued two legal recommendations, reminding consumers of their rights and advised businesses and healthcare agencies developing, selling or using AI on their obligations under California law. AI technology is rapidly developing, but entities must comply with existing California laws. Legal recommendations can be found here and here. Over the past few months, Attorney General Bonta has strongly opposed the state’s 10-year ban on enforcing state laws or regulations addressing AI and automated decision-making systems, and has strongly opposed the claim to the rapidly evolving nature of AI technology, demanding that states provide and remove it. The ban collapsed in July.
In 2024, Attorney General Bonta sent a comment letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) relating to the potential impact of emerging AI technologies on efforts to protect consumers from illegal robocalls or robotic texts. In 2023, Attorney General Bonta joined a bipartisan coalition of 54 states and territories, sending letters to Congressional leaders, calling for the creation of a committee of experts, studying how AI can be used to exploit children through Child Sexual Abuse Materials (CSAM).
