{"id":461,"date":"2025-09-15T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globaltalentholding.com\/?p=461"},"modified":"2025-09-16T13:07:00","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T13:07:00","slug":"ai-chatbot-concerns-whistleblower-allegations-revive-kids-online-safety-push","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globaltalentholding.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/15\/ai-chatbot-concerns-whistleblower-allegations-revive-kids-online-safety-push\/","title":{"rendered":"AI chatbot concerns, whistleblower allegations\u00a0revive kids online safety push"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recent revelations about how AI chatbots are interacting with and affecting children<\/a> are colliding with long-standing concerns about tech companies\u2019 approach to safety and revitalizing efforts to pass kids\u2019 online safety legislation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chatbots from both Meta and OpenAI have come under scrutiny in the past few weeks, raising questions about how to protect young users from potential harms caused by the rapid development of AI.<\/p>\n

Several whistleblowers also came forward with new allegations about Meta\u2019s handling of safety research, underscoring issues that have plagued tech companies with large platforms for years. <\/p>\n

The latest developments have prompted senators from both sides of the aisle to renew calls to pass the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), legislation aimed at strengthening online protections<\/a> for children that has faced roadblocks in previous sessions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“There is truly bipartisan anger, not only with Meta, but with these other social media platforms and virtual reality platforms and chatbots that are intentionally, knowingly harming our children, and this has got to stop,\u201d Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) said at a hearing Tuesday. \u201cEnough is enough.\u201d <\/p>\n

KOSA came close to clearing Congress last year, after passing the Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support in July 2024. However, it came up short in the House, where some Republican members voiced concerns about the potential for censorship of conservative views.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In an eleventh-hour effort to get the bill across the finish line in December, senators negotiated updated text with Elon Musk\u2019s X seeking to address GOP concerns. Musk, who at the time was a key figure in then-President-elect Trump’s orbit, threw his weight behind the legislation following the changes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) ultimately poured cold water on the push, saying he still had reservations about KOSA\u2019s free speech implications. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Blackburn and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) reintroduced the legislation in May, using the same language negotiated last December.  <\/p>\n

Notably, the bill had the support of leadership from the outset, with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) both joining as co-sponsors. <\/p>\n

Kids\u2019 safety concerns have surged back to the forefront of policy discussions in recent weeks in the wake of reports about AI chatbots and their interactions with children. <\/p>\n

Meta faced backlash from both sides of the aisle in mid-August after an internal policy document was made public, showing examples of permissible interactions between its AI chatbot and young users, which included \u201cromantic or sensual\u201d conversations. <\/p>\n

This immediately provoked an uproar from lawmakers. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) announced the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, which he chairs, was opening a probe into Meta\u2019s generative AI products.   <\/p>\n

Meta quickly responded, saying this was an error and that it had removed the language. It also later announced it was updating its chatbot policy for teen users. <\/p>\n

However, Hawley argued it was \u201cunacceptable that these policies were advanced in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n

OpenAI is also feeling the heat. The family of a 16-year-old boy sued the ChatGPT late last month, alleging its chatbot encouraged him to take his own life. The company announced last week that it was making changes to how its chatbot handles people in crisis and strengthening teen protections.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The attorneys general of California and Delaware raised concerns to the company in a letter Friday about its safety practices in the wake of three deaths connected to ChatGPT, suggesting they \u201chave rightly shaken the American public\u2019s confidence in OpenAI and this industry.\u201d <\/p>\n

The FTC announced Thursday it is launching an inquiry into AI chatbots, requesting information from several major tech firms, including Meta and OpenAI, about how they evaluate and limit potential harms to kids.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, six current and former Meta employees came forward this week with new allegations that the company doctored and restricted safety research in an effort to shield it from legal liability.  <\/p>\n

They described a \u201cvast and negative change\u201d in how the company approached safety research after Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen alleged in 2021 that the tech giant was aware its platforms had negative impacts on young girls but had prioritized profits. <\/p>\n

Meta has argued the claims are \u201cnonsense,\u201d suggesting they are based on selective documents to build a \u201cfalse narrative.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe American public ought to be angry, ought to be furious at Meta, but also at the Congress, which has been complicit in failing to address this issue,\u201d Blumenthal said at a press conference Tuesday. <\/p>\n

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who has co-sponsored KOSA, described a conversation with a parent who was struggling to keep her young children off of online platforms.    <\/p>\n

\u201cShe said it was like a sink overflowing with a faucet she couldn’t turn off, and she was just sitting out there with a mop,\u201d Klobuchar said at Tuesday\u2019s hearing. \u201cThese parents need more than mops. They need us to pass this bill.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThe company can come before this subcommittee. They can provide us answers. But the best way to resolve this is to get this bill passed,\u201d she later said, adding, \u201cWe\u2019re ready to talk to them, but mostly we want to get something done. We\u2019re tired of the talk.\u201d <\/p>\n

Despite recent calls to pass kids\u2019 safety legislation, experts underscored that little has changed from December when the bill fell short in the House, casting doubt on its chances going forward. <\/p>\n

The \u201csignificant differences\u201d between the House and Senate that previously stymied movement on KOSA have yet to be resolved, noted Andrew Zack, policy manager for the Family Online Safety Institute.<\/p>\n

\u201cKids\u2019 online safety is a hot topic,\u201d he told The Hill. \u201cIt is usually a bipartisan topic as KOSA is, but there\u2019s some real questions to figure out.\u201d <\/p>\n

When asked Tuesday about reported efforts in the House to revise the legislation, Blumenthal said they had not yet seen the new text and underscored the \u201cyears of painstaking, time-consuming work\u201d they have put into drafting and making changes to the bill. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe latest news may lend KOSA some more momentum right now, but that won\u2019t necessarily shift the fundamental political dynamics behind the bill,\u201d said Andrew Lokay, a senior research analyst at Beacon Policy Advisors.  <\/p>\n

\u201cTranslating momentum into policy change on the federal level can be challenging,\u201d he added. \u201cHistorically, Congress has been very slow to legislate on tech issues.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recent revelations about how AI chatbots are interacting with and affecting children are colliding with long-standing concerns about tech companies\u2019 approach to safety and revitalizing efforts to pass kids\u2019 online safety legislation.\u00a0 Chatbots from both Meta and OpenAI have come under scrutiny in the past few weeks, raising questions about how to protect young users […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globaltalentholding.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globaltalentholding.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globaltalentholding.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globaltalentholding.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globaltalentholding.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/globaltalentholding.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":462,"href":"https:\/\/globaltalentholding.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461\/revisions\/462"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globaltalentholding.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globaltalentholding.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globaltalentholding.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globaltalentholding.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}