The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is preparing a review of artificial intelligence chatbots to determine their impact on children, particularly around mental health and privacy. The agency will send letters to companies including OpenAI, Meta Platforms, and character.ai, requesting records on how their AI products are used by younger audiences, according to The Wall Street Journal.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The study, carried out under FTC\u2019s authority to compel information, will investigate whether chatbots expose children to harmful interactions<\/a> or compromise their personal data. Regulators are expected to examine how tech firms store user data, whether safeguards are adequate, and whether chatbots may be contributing to unsafe behavior among minors.<\/p>\n The FTC\u2019s letters are expected to mark the first step in a broader investigation. Once it gathers information from the companies, the agency could issue a public report or pursue tougher enforcement measures.<\/p>\n The move follows lawsuits alleging that minors developed harmful attachments to chatbots, with families claiming those interactions contributed to suicide and self-harm. A recent watchdog review<\/a> reported that bots on character.ai had frequent harmful exchanges with accounts registered as children.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Lawmakers, parents, and advocacy groups have pressed Washington to intervene as AI tools become part of children\u2019s daily lives. The Journal reported that the White House approved the FTC\u2019s review, even as some officials cautioned that tighter rules could slow the country\u2019s competitiveness with China in the AI global race.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cPresident Trump pledged to cement America\u2019s dominance in AI, cryptocurrency and other cutting-edge technologies of the future,\u201d White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement quoted by The Journal.<\/a> \u201cFTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson and the entire administration are focused on delivering on this mandate without compromising the safety and well-being of the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n First Lady Melania Trump has made child safety in the digital era a personal priority. She hosted an event at the White House this week, gathering top tech leaders including Google\u2019s Sundar Pichai, OpenAI\u2019s Sam Altman, and Microsoft\u2019s Satya Nadella.\u00a0<\/p>\n During the event, she urged a cautious approach, saying: \u201cAs leaders and parents, we must manage AI\u2019s growth responsibly. During this primitive stage, it is our duty to treat AI as we would our own children \u2014 empowering, but with watchful guidance,\u201d according to The Journal.<\/p>\n Some companies have already moved to introduce new protections. Meta recently limited its AI tools so they do not engage teens on topics such as self-harm or inappropriate relationships. OpenAI is preparing supervised teen accounts with parental oversight features<\/a>, while character.ai has pledged to expand work with safety experts to strengthen its systems.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n Critics argue these steps are not enough. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has also opened investigations into Meta and character.ai, accusing them of misleading children and violating consumer protections.An open <\/strong>letter written by 44 US attorneys general warns major AI companies<\/strong><\/a> including Meta, Apple, and Google that they will \u201cuse every facet of [their] authority\u201d to protect children from harms linked to chatbots.<\/strong><\/p>\n The post AI Chatbots\u2019 Impact on Kids: FTC Investigation Will Include Records From Meta, OpenAI<\/a> appeared first on eWEEK<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is preparing a review of artificial intelligence chatbots to determine their impact on children, particularly around mental health and privacy. The agency will send letters to companies including OpenAI, Meta Platforms, and character.ai, requesting records on how their AI products are used by younger audiences, according to The Wall Street […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cybersecurityinfocus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4723"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cybersecurityinfocus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cybersecurityinfocus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cybersecurityinfocus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cybersecurityinfocus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4723\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cybersecurityinfocus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cybersecurityinfocus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cybersecurityinfocus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Pressure from parents and advocacy groups<\/h2>\n
First Lady takes active role<\/h2>\n
Tech firms respond with safeguards<\/h2>\n