EPIC, Coalition Urge Senate Commerce Committee to Advance Youth AI Privacy Act

On Wednesday, the Senate Commerce Committee will consider the Youth AI Privacy Act, important legislation that would establish federal privacy and safety protections for minors using AI chatbots. EPIC and a coalition of leading consumer and child safety advocacy organizations are urging the Committee to advance this important legislation. 

In a letter to the Committee, EPIC and more than a dozen coalition partner organizations called for Senators to support the bill, which would establish critical safeguards for minors, including limits on manipulative chatbot design, a ban on advertising to minors through AI chatbots, and protections against using minors’ personal data to train AI models. 

EPIC has supported the Youth AI Privacy Act since Sen. Ed Markey introduced it in March. The bill takes a people- and privacy-first approach to AI regulation and reflects many of the principles outlined in EPIC’s model People-First Chatbot Bill, which calls for strong privacy, safety, transparency, and accountability protections for chatbots. 

As AI companies continue to develop and deploy chatbots that put children’s privacy and safety at risk, Congress must act to ensure that children’s privacy comes before AI companies’ profits. EPIC and our coalition partners urge the Senate Commerce Committee to advance the Youth AI Privacy Act and put privacy at the center of AI policy. 

EPIC has long worked to draw attention to the serious and ongoing risks of AI through reports, model bills on chatbots, state testimony, and more.