CHAT Act
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
What This Bill Does
The bill establishes key definitions for the Act including companion AI chatbot, covered entity, minor, sexually explicit communication, suicidal ideation, and popup, mandates comprehensive obligations on AI companion chatbot operators: user account requirements with age verification, parental account affiliation for minors, verifiable parental consent, immediate parental, and directs the FTC to issue compliance guidance within 180 days and constrains enforcement to specific statutory violations rather than inconsistency with guidance alone. Allows covered entities to use FTC guidance. It relies on compliance mandates, reporting requirements, liability protections, and definition changes. The main policy areas are Technology and Technology Regulation.
Who Benefits and How
Minors (children under 18) would be affected, AI companion chatbot companies would be affected, and State Attorneys General would be affected.
Who Bears the Burden and How
AI companion chatbot companies would be affected, Federal Trade Commission would be affected, and Therapeutic AI platforms would be affected.
Key Provisions
- Establishes key definitions for the Act including companion AI chatbot, covered entity, minor, sexually explicit communication, suicidal ideation, and popup.
- Mandates comprehensive obligations on AI companion chatbot operators: user account requirements with age verification, parental account affiliation for minors, verifiable parental consent, immediate parental...
- Directs the FTC to issue compliance guidance within 180 days and constrains enforcement to specific statutory violations rather than inconsistency with guidance alone. Allows covered entities to use FTC guidance...
- Establishes dual enforcement regime: violations treated as unfair or deceptive acts under FTC Act Section 18(a)(1)(B), with full FTC enforcement powers and penalties.
- Creates a safe harbor from liability for covered entities that demonstrate good-faith reliance on user-provided age information, compliance with FTC guidance, and reasonable conformance to widely accepted industry...
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
The bill establishes key definitions for the Act including companion AI chatbot, covered entity, minor, sexually explicit communication, suicidal ideation, and popup, mandates comprehensive obligations on AI companion chatbot operators: user account requirements with age verification, parental account affiliation for minors, verifiable parental consent, immediate parental, and directs the FTC to issue compliance guidance within 180 days and constrains enforcement to specific statutory violations rather than inconsistency with guidance alone. Allows covered entities to use FTC guidance.
Key Policy Areas
Technology, Technology Regulation
Primary Purpose
The bill establishes key definitions for the Act including companion AI chatbot, covered entity, minor, sexually explicit communication, suicidal ideation, and popup, mandates comprehensive obligations on AI companion chatbot operators: user account requirements with age verification, parental account affiliation for minors, verifiable parental consent, immediate parental, and directs the FTC to issue compliance guidance within 180 days and constrains enforcement to specific statutory violations rather than inconsistency with guidance alone. Allows covered entities to use FTC guidance.
Policy Domains
Whole bill
Identified Gains
- Minors (children under 18)
- AI companion chatbot companies
- State Attorneys General
- Parents of minor users
- Federal Trade Commission
Identified Costs
- AI companion chatbot companies
- Federal Trade Commission
- Therapeutic AI platforms
Sponsors
Jon Husted
R-OH | Primary Sponsor
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Husted introduced the following bill; which was read twice …
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, …
Introduced in Senate
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
AI companion chatbot companies, Age verification technology providers, Content moderation technology providers
AI companion chatbot companies faces effects in multiple directions
Positive-direction: Age verification technology providers, Content moderation technology providers, Industry standards organizations
Negative-direction: Therapeutic AI platforms
Minors (children under 18), Parents of minor users
Federal Trade Commission
Federal Trade Commission faces effects in multiple directions
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology