The Federal Commerce Committee ordered from seven technological companies to provide details On how they prevent their chatbots from harming children.
“The FTC survey seeks to understand what measures, if necessary, have taken to assess the safety of their chatbots when they act as companions, to limit the use of the product and the potential negative effects on children and adolescents, and to inform users and parents of the risks associated with products,” said the government agency focused on consumers in a press release.
The seven companies surveyed by the FTC are alphabet, Character Technologies, Instagram, Meta, Openai, Snap and Xai. Anthropic, owner of Claude Chatbot, was not included on the list, and the spokesperson for the FTC, Christoper Bissex, told Mashable that he could not comment on “the inclusion or non-inclusion of a particular business”.
Character. Dangerous for adolescents, say the experts
Asked about deadlines so that companies provide answers, Bissex said that the letters from the FTC said: “We would like to give ourselves by phone with you or your lawyer designated no later than Thursday, September 25, 2025, to discuss the calendar and the format of your submission.”
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The FTC is “interested in particular” about how Chatbots and Companions of AI have an impact Rule on the law on the protection of online privacy for children (COPPA). The rule, initially promulgated by Congress in 1998, regulates how children’s data is collected online and puts the FTC in charge of this regulation.
Meta locks AI chatbots for teenage users
Technological companies that offer Chatbots fueled by AI are subject to an increasing government and legal examination.
OPENAI, which operates the popular Chatgpt service, faces an unjustified death trial of the teenager’s family in California Adam Raine. The trial alleys that Raine, deceased by suicide, was able to bypass the railing of the chatbot and detail harmful and self-destructive thoughts, as well as the suicidal ideas, which were periodically affirmed by Chatgpt. Following the trial, Openai announced additional mental health guarantees and new parental controls for young users.
If you feel suicidal or suffer from a mental health crisis, please talk to someone. You can call or send an SMS to the suicide line of life & Crisis 988 to 988, or discuss 988lifeline.org. You can reach the Trans rescue line by calling 877-565-8860 or the TREVOR project at 866-488-7386. “Start” text to the line of crisis text at 741-741. Contact the Nami assistance line at 1-800-950-Nami, Monday to Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. he or by e-mail [email protected]. If you don’t like the phone, consider using the 988 suicide chat and crisis lifeline. Here is a International resources list.
Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April, filed a complaint against Openai, alleging that it has violated Ziff Davis Copyrights in the training and exploitation of its AI systems.
