A new bipartisan bill from Senators Hawley, Blumenthal, Britt, Warner, and Murphy would force every AI chatbot in the United States to verify users’ ages and block anyone under eighteen from using them. At first glance it sounds like a simple child safety measure. In reality it is a compulsory identity checkpoint for anyone who uses AI, from customer support bots to search assistants. The GUARD Act sets up a surveillance mandate that threatens privacy, chills speech, and hands the government unprecedented leverage over how people interact with digital tools.
The bill gives companies no choice but to demand sensitive identity data before a user can type a single word. Instead of a simple age checkbox, platforms would have to collect government IDs, credit records, or biometric data. The law then requires continuous re verification, which means companies must store that data or repeatedly request it. Either option exposes users to identity theft, breaches, and tracking.
The GUARD Act does not protect minors. It locks them out entirely. No parental consent. No nuance. No ability for a seventeen year old to use an AI tutor, ask a search engine a question, get product support, or use creative tools that are now standard in education. It treats every teen the same and cuts them off from legitimate and harmless technology.
The language of the bill is so vague that almost any AI system becomes an “AI chatbot” or “AI companion.” Anything that generates adaptive text qualifies, including search summaries, customer service assistants, research tools, and general purpose LLMs. If the system encourages any emotional engagement, even unintentionally, it may be labelled a “companion.” This definition invites lawsuits, over compliance, and bans. Companies will block minors entirely rather than risk fines reaching one hundred thousand dollars per violation.
The law’s structure guarantees censorship. When companies face vague rules and enormous penalties, they restrict speech to protect themselves. They will block entire topics, throttle conversations, and remove minors instead of confronting legal ambiguity. The GUARD Act gives them two choices: mass surveillance or mass censorship. Either way, the public loses privacy, access, and autonomy.
The bill also deepens inequality. Wealthy corporations can absorb compliance costs and build identity verification pipelines. Smaller, privacy focused developers cannot. The result is a consolidated AI industry dominated by companies that already possess vast amounts of user data. It harms activists, undocumented people, trans communities, abuse survivors, and anyone who relies on anonymity to stay safe.
Policymakers point to child safety to justify sweeping surveillance, but age verification has never been safe. Every system requires identifying the user, which destroys anonymity and ties every interaction to a verified person. Once that link exists, nothing stops it from being used for law enforcement, data profiling, advertising, or political repression.
The GUARD Act would make the internet less free and less private for everyone. It blocks teens from legitimate digital spaces, hands the government more authority over speech, and forces corporations to build intrusive identity checks. Instead of transparency and user choice, it pushes bans, coercion, and surveillance infrastructure disguised as protection.
There are real concerns about AI. None of them are solved by treating every user as a suspect and every conversation as a regulated act. Congress should reject the GUARD Act and pursue policies that increase accountability without sacrificing basic freedoms.
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FAQ
Why is the GUARD Act dangerous
It forces identity checks on all users and blocks teens from basic digital tools.
Does the GUARD Act protect children
No. It excludes them entirely and replaces parental guidance with government control.
What happens if companies comply
They must build mass identity systems, store sensitive data, and censor content to avoid fines.