U.S. Senator Katie Britt Priorities Advanced out of Senate Judiciary Committee

‘I hope that we will all make sure that our leadership on both sides of the aisle quickly helps us usher this through passage on the full Senate floor’ WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-Ala.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today at an executive business meeting voted to advance several bills out of committee, including two of her legislative priorities. Senator Britt is a lead sponsor of the Guidelines for User Age-verification and Responsible Dialogue (GUARD) Act and is a proud cosponsor of the Federal Carjacking Enforcement Act , legislation to reduce juvenile crime and crack down on carjacking by removing barriers to bringing federal prosecutions. Both bills now head to the floor for a vote before the full Senate. The GUARD Act would ban the use of artificial intelligence (AI) companions by minors, mandate AI companions disclose their non-human status, and establish new criminal liability for companies that make publicly available AI chatbots knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that it engages minors in sexually explicit conduct or makes depictions of such conduct available to them. It also establishes criminal liability for companies that make publicly available chatbots knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that they solicit or induce minors to commit suicide, self-injury, imminent physical or sexual violence, or murder. Senator Britt delivered remarks ahead of the committee vote on the GUARD Act, which can be viewed here and in part below: “We have the world’s most powerful machines that we know can actually decipher and figure out some of our most complex problems, and if they can do that, they can safeguard against the behavior, against the interactions, against the inducing into self-harm and enticing into death by suicide that we have seen them engage in. “We know they could put up those guardrails. They should do it anyway. It is sick that we’re having to sit here to make them do that. I want to say thank you to these parents, thank you. Your stories are what has motivated the movement, and this the bravery, the courage, the heart that it took to tell those stories has made a huge difference. “And so, on behalf of all other parents who are working to navigate this space, we say thank you for raising your voice and helping make a difference for everyone [who] is attempting to raise children in this environment right now. And it is their memory, their legacy and their stories that will continue to push us to make sure that today is not the last day that we talk about this but is yet a catalyst for continued movement. “I hope that we will all make sure that our leadership on both sides of the aisle quickly helps us usher this through passage on the full Senate floor. So, thank you to the parents, thank you again to Senator Hawley and Senator (Richard) Blumenthal. It is certainly an honor to stand alongside you today, and I hope we do more of this in the future.” The lead sponsor of the GUARD Act , Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), thanked Senator Britt for her leadership, saying, “Senator Britt, you know, in many ways, this bill started with a conversation Senator Britt and I had when Katie said to me after a hearing on this subject. She said, ‘why can’t we ever do anything … to protect kids?’ And I said, ‘you’re right.’ She said, ‘we need to do something that’s common sense, just common sense, to protect kids.’ And that’s what this bill is. It is a common sense, targeted, tailored effort to protect our kids and to protect our families. Thank you, Senator Britt, for being such a leader.” One of Senator Britt’s top legislative priorities is protecting children online, including from sexual exploitation. Her bipartisan bills, including the Stop the Scroll Act , the Kids Off Social Media Act , address youth mental health. The GUARD Act builds on that work and would set strict rules on AI companions’ interactions with minors and hold developers legally responsible for harmful or exploitative behavior. Senator Britt has also joined Senators Hawley, Brian Schatz (R-Hawaii), and several of their colleagues from both parties in sending a letter to Meta following reports that Meta’s AI chatbots were engaging in “sensual” conversations with children. ###