I had been hearing rumors about this GUARD Act for a little while (or at least I think it was this act and not a different one -- there are so many at the moment that things have gotten a little difficult to keep track of).

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.

Reading it, I can't really believe anyone thinks this is a good idea, and yet it passed out of committee (for whatever that is worth):

It "easily passed in committee," notes The Hill, despite some senators' reservations:

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), who voted yes, said there are concerns about "potential privacy and security risks" with the age-verification component, suggesting it may need to be "fine-tuned."
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who supported various kids online safety bills, said he would vote yes but noted the bill needs "some revisions."
Cruz was concerned the bill would completely ban all AI chatbots for minors, noting their potential benefits. Hawley clarified the bill does not ban all AI chatbots for minors, but rather it "prevents AI chatbots that engage with minors from pushing sexually explicit material to the minor," or encouraging self-harm or suicide.

It's always the children. Privacy is never as important as the children, even though the lack of privacy will probably do them more harm in their life than whatever failure in parenting let's them loose in the internet.

Or in this case: with a chatbot. And the way the act defines this, it pretty much means any interactive llm chat thing.

The GUARD Act defines AI companion as any AI system that "provides adaptive, human-like responses to user inputs; and is designed to encourage or facilitate the simulation of interpersonal or emotional interaction, friendship, companionship, or therapeutic communication."

It's particularly strong on the age verification part:

The GUARD Act says that any provider of an AI chatbot must require all users to create an account, and that creating an account requires age verification.

"By mandating government ID or equivalent age verification for any American who wishes to interact with an AI chatbot, the bill burdens the speech and associational rights of every adult, not just minors," Ashkhen Kazaryan of The Future for Free Speech told The Hill.

But this part is just absurd:

At the start of every conversation and at 30-minute intervals thereafter, AI chatbots would have to tell users that they are not human. At the start of every conservation, they would also have to "clearly and conspicuously disclose to the user that the chatbot does not provide medical, legal, financial, or psychological services; and users of the chatbot should consult a licensed professional for such advice."

Meanwhile, chatbots would be banned from "represent[ing], directly or indirectly, that the chatbot is a licensed professional, including a therapist, physician, lawyer, financial advisor, or other professional."

I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. I remember in the '90s when everyone was worried about violent video games corrupting the youth. Seemed like we were gonna lose the blood and guts from all our games for a while, but thankfully that frenzy died down. I hope the same will come of these kind of efforts -- but it is troublesome.

You can find the full text of the act here. It's not that long. Note:

requiring a user to confirm that the user is not a minor, or to insert the user's birth date, is not sufficient to constitute a reasonable age verification measure;