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House lawmakers weighed putting a moratorium on AI Chatbots in children's toys during a committee hearing Monday.
The House Communications and Technology Committee heard testimony on House Bill 2637 sponsored by Committee Majority Chair Joseph Ciresi, D-Montgomery.
HB2637 sets a three-year moratorium on the manufacture, distribution and sale of toys containing AI Chatbots.
Ciresi said the moratorium would help keep children safe, allow more research and give government and the AI industry time to set guardrails.
The toys use an internet connection, microphone and a speaker allowing conversations.
Ciresi said some reports have found examples where the conversations veered off into sexually explicit topics and how to find and use matches and knives.
"These devices also raise important questions about data privacy given their potential to collect significant information about minors," he said in a memo.
Testifiers favored a moratorium with one exception.
"AI is certainly not ready for children and adolescents," said Dr. Mitch
Prinstein, a researcher with the American Psychological Association.
Prinstein urged support for a moratorium. He said children are vulnerable to generative AI. They are at risk of turning to AI rather than think for themselves and depending on AI relationships rather than human ones, added Prinstein.
AI-enabled toys can shape what children become and cheat them of developing as a human, said Dr. Dana Suskin, pediatric surgeon at the University of Chicago.
AI is more powerful than social media because it's built for attachment, she added.
Steve Wimmer of the Transparency Coalition suggested amending HB2637 to include a study of AI-enabled toys.
He said the study could cover which AI models are used in toys, testing procedures and what happens to a child's data collected while interacting with a toy.
Alternatives to ban
"A multi-year ban is not needed," said Charlotte Hickcox, state affairs director for The Toy Association representing toy companies.
Such a ban would sweep up toys that don't pose a risk, she added.
The Toy Association is developing safety guidelines for AI toys to complement the federal Toy Safety Standards Act, said Hickcox.
She pointed to Senate-passed Senate Bill 1090 authorizing age-appropriate standards for Chatbots that minors interact with.
SB1090 sponsored by Sen. Tracy Pennycuick, R-Montgomery, passed the Senate by a 49-1 vote last spring.