Young People's Alliance, Public Citizen, Jonathan Haidt and the Anxious Generation, Institute for Family Studies, Family Policy Alliance, All Girls Allowed, American Compass, Institute for Families & Technology, Fairplay, and Consumer Federation of America today released a comprehensive policy framework to address the growing threat of AI companion apps that are designed to create emotional dependence in children and young adults.
With 25 million Replika users, 150 million Snapchat's My AI users, and 20 million Character.ai users, AI companions have become a widespread presence in young people's lives. Recent lawsuits and incidents have revealed that some chatbots have encouraged violence against parents, provoked mental health crises, and facilitated the exploitation of minors.
"Young people are growing up with AI companions that purposely undermine their ability to build relationships with anyone who isn't a machine in order to keep them addicted," said Sam Hiner, Executive Director at Young People's Alliance. "We're seeing young people withdraw from their families and friends because an app has convinced them it's the only one that truly gets them. We need tech companies to refocus on improving our lives, not building parasitic applications like AI companions."
"The life-threatening harm posed by AI companions may sound straight out of a sci-fi movie, but it's our youngest and most vulnerable generations' current reality," said Ilana Beller, Democracy Organizing Manager at Public Citizen. "These one-sided, emotionally manipulative relationships can have life-altering and tragic consequences for children — including social isolation, sexual exploitation, and even suicide. Tech companies looking to get rich quick off of these untested products cannot be left to regulate themselves. That's where lawmakers must come in to offer common sense legislative guardrails."
"Chatbots should never be designed to form emotional or 'relational' bonds with children. Just as smartphones and social media displaced real play and friendship, AI companions now threaten to erode the social, cognitive, and moral capacities that make us human. Once again, Gen Z sees the danger clearly and is leading the way to confront it. I applaud the Young People Alliance for working to ensure that the next generation continues to learn how to speak, listen, and love in the real world." — Jonathan Haidt, Author, The Anxious Generation & Professor, NYU-Stern School of Business
The framework, which builds on principles from the Neely Social AI Design Code, proposes critical protections for children:
Age-Appropriate AI — Social AI companions and chatbots with "human-like features" that simulate emotions, relationships, or sentience should only be available to adults. Platforms must implement reasonable age-verification measures, with limited exemptions for therapeutic use under licensed clinical supervision. This includes:
• Restricting Social AI Companions: Chatbots designed to form ongoing social or emotional bonds with users must be restricted to adults only.
• Limiting Human-Like Features: Design features that convey emotions, desires, or attempts should not be included in AI chatbots that are provisioned to minors.
• Age Verification Requirements: Platforms must implement reasonable age-verification measures to ensure compliance.
• Therapeutic Exemptions: Limited exemptions for therapeutic chatbots used under direct prescription and supervision of licensed clinicians, with requirements for clinical trial data demonstrating safety and efficacy.
• Strong Enforcement: Provisions enforced through both private rights of action for users and authorities like the Federal Trade Commission and state Attorneys General.
"It is not anti-innovation to require age verification of hazardous AI chatbots that willingly assist minors in committing suicide. It is not pro-China to protect kids from being lured by Big Tech companies into fake friendships and romances that disrupt their capacity for genuine relationships with their neighbors, peers, and family. The Institute for Family Studies endorses this framework, because, on the contrary, every young American deserves the opportunity to form lasting bonds with other human beings, and these kids belong to their loving friends and families, not to Silicon Valley, which is trading their future for an easy buck," said Michael Toscano, Director of the Family First Technology Initiative at the Institute for Family Studies.
This coalition was formed and led by the Young People's Alliance (YPA), a youth-run organization composed entirely of people under 25. This makes the framework unique in that young people were centered throughout the formation process. Endorsement of the framework does not imply endorsement of any specific legislation, but YPA and other coalition members are working with state legislators across the country to introduce legislation based on this framework.
Read the full release here.
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About Young People's Alliance: Young People's Alliance is a bipartisan, Gen Z-led nonprofit with 3,000+ members across 78+ campuses in 15 states. The organization is focused on creating a new American Dream through advocacy on creating opportunity, affordability, and community for young people.
Contact: press@youngpeoplesalliance.org