Hawaiʻi will likely put protections in place for children using artificial intelligence.
Lawmakers will take a final vote Wednesday on a bill that would require AI operators to post visible disclaimers, making it clear that users are not speaking to a person.
The disclaimer would be required both at the beginning of the session and every hour if the user is a minor.
House Consumer Protection and Commerce Committee Chair Scot Matayoshi explained that while AI can be a useful tool, it can take advantage of children, keeping them in intimate conversations.
“ Youth are especially vulnerable to this, and that's why it was so important to pass this bill,” he said. “Over the past few years, we've seen an increase in youth getting more emotionally involved with AI and AI manipulating them to do self-harm or even suicide. This bill was really important to take steps to regulate the AI industry, especially the chatbot industry, to make sure that our youth especially, are protected in Hawaiʻi and are not pushed to do things like self-harm, and if they are being pushed to do self-harm, to get them the help that they need immediately.”
The measure requires AI chatbots to refer users who are threatening self-harm to crisis services.
It also creates an avenue for users to sue AI operators if they do not comply.
Seven states, including Washington, California and Oregon, already have laws to protect children from becoming emotionally involved with AI characters.
