GUARD Act

Protection Against Harmful Content: Section 4 makes it a criminal offense to make publicly available an AI chatbot that solicits, induces, or coerces minors to commit suicide, non-suicidal self-injury, physical violence, homicide, or engages them in sexually explicit conduct. This provides clear legal safeguards to protect children from dangerous and traumatic online interactions.

Enhanced User Transparency: Section 5(c) requires artificial intelligence chatbots to clearly and conspicuously disclose at the initiation of each conversation that the chatbot is an artificial intelligence system and not a human being. It also prohibits chatbots from pretending to be licensed professionals like therapists, physicians, lawyers, or financial advisors, ensuring users are not deceived about who or what is providing them information.

Data Security for Age Verification: Section 5(b)(5) requires covered entities to maintain reasonable data security, limit the collection of personal data to what is minimally necessary for verifying a user's adult status, protect data with industry-standard encryption, retain it only as long as necessary, and prohibit sharing or selling that data. This protects the personal information of individuals undergoing age checks.

Access Restrictions for Minors: Section 6 completely prohibits minors from accessing or using any AI companion made publicly available by a covered entity. This means individuals under 18 years of age are entirely cut off from utilizing these specific types of AI software applications.

Burdensome Verification Requirements for Adults: Section 5(b) requires adults to undergo a reasonable age verification process—which may involve submitting a verified form of identification or financial account information—to restore frozen accounts or create new accounts for accessing AI companions. This creates an administrative hurdle and potential privacy friction for adult users who simply want to use the technology.