Senate Commerce Committee Advances Youth AI Privacy Act

On Wednesday, the Senate Commerce Committee voted to advance the Youth AI Privacy Act, a crucial piece of legislation that would establish federal privacy and safety protections for minors using AI chatbots.  

EPIC endorsed the Youth AI Privacy Act when Sen. Ed Markey introduced it in March. The bill would establish critical safeguards for minors, including limits on manipulative chatbot design, a ban on advertising to minors through AI chatbots, and protections against the use of minors’ personal data for AI model training. 

While some of the bill’s provisions were weakened or removed during markup, including the bill’s private right of action, its underlying message remains strong: Minors’ privacy must come before AI companies’ profits. We applaud Sen. Markey and the entire Senate Commerce Committee for recognizing the importance of this issue and look forward to continuing to work with Members to strengthen and advance the bill.  

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. 

In a letter to the Senate Commerce Committee on Tuesday, EPIC and more than a dozen coalition partner organizations called on Senators to support the bill.  

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.