Artificial Intelligence

How a Bill Banning AI Companions for Kids Could Usher in Widespread ID Checks Online

Plus: Supreme Court pauses ban on mail-order abortion pills, TikTok's artistic merit, a defense of pickup artists, and more...

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 5.4.2026 11:51 AM

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(Illustration: Lex Villena; Gage Skidmore)

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.

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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 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.

That seems like some incredibly disingenuous framing from Hawley. While the bill does ban what he says it does, it would also do a whole lot more. Such as:

1) Ban Kids From Using Friendly AI 

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." AI companies would be required to prohibit anyone under age 18 "from accessing or using any AI companion," the GUARD Act says.

That obviously goes way beyond stopping teens from chatting with robots about sex or violence. It takes away their right to talk to AI companions about any topic. And it defines AI companion so broadly that it would encompass any AI chatbot that affects a friendly or familiar tone.

Even at its least broad, such a ban would be a bad idea. Some teens might benefit from AI therapy tools. And there are all sorts of not-bad reasons why a teenager might want to engage with an AI chatbot capable of providing supportive or friendly communication.

In the broad form in which it's written, the bill could stop young people from engaging chatbots in all sorts of neutral or even positive interactions, including using "online tutors, practicing a foreign language, or developing an........

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