A House committee has set a vote next week for legislation requiring safety protocols for artificial intelligence companionship chatbots. Companionship apps create virtual environments where human users interact with virtual avatars that respond in a human manner. Rep. Melissa Shusterman, D-Montgomery, said that some companionship apps boast of having 20 million users a month, a reflection of the loneliness epidemic impacting as many as half of American adults. “Some users of the AI companion have described close friendships that have led to romantic interactions with their AI ...