Cybersecurity Policy Report, House Bill Targets Privacy Risks, Mental Health Harms From AI Chatbots, (Jul 10, 2026)
Organizations Mentioned:Consumer Federation of America | Winghart Law Group, Inc.
Legislation that would restrict how AI (artificial intelligence) chatbots collect and use personal data and impose rules to protect the mental health of children and other chatbot users has been introduced in the House.
The People-First Chatbot Act (H.R. 9619, 119th Cong. (2026)) was offered by Reps. Valerie Foushee (D., N.C.) and Greg Casar (D., Texas) and was endorsed by a variety of children’s advocates and privacy groups.
The bill attempts to both protect the data of chatbot users and prevent chatbots from causing “harm, emotional dependence, or compulsive usage” when interacting with children, according to its text.
Providers of chatbots would be prohibited from processing user data “other than input data to inform chatbot outputs unless the processing of personal data is necessary to fulfill an express request made by a user and that user has provided affirmative consent,” the bill says.
It would prohibit the use of minors’ “chat logs or personal data to train AI chatbots,” limit “the use of users’ personal data and chat logs for targeted advertising, profiling, customized ads, and sale,” and give users “the right to access and delete retained chat logs and personal data,” according to a news release.
Chatbots would be barred under the bill from claiming that their advice is equivalent to what a user might be told by a medical doctor or mental health professional, and users would have to be informed that they are interacting with a chatbot rather than a human.
Rules governing those disclosures and enacting other provisions of the bill would be developed by the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC and state attorneys general would be empowered to police chatbots, and harmed individuals would be allowed to file lawsuits. Individual plaintiffs would be able to collect as much as $250,000 for violations and more for “willful or knowing violations.”
“The People-First Chatbot Act makes clear that American families deserve control over their personal data, clear disclosure when they are interacting with AI, real protections for children and vulnerable users, and meaningful recourse when AI chatbots cause harm,” Rep. Foushee said.
"Unregulated chatbots are putting our privacy, our health, and even our children's safety at risk," Rep. Casar said. "We need bold action to keep people safe online, and I am grateful for Rep. Foushee's leadership on this issue."
“Parents deserve to know how and when their children interact with an AI chatbot and that the chatbot is not collecting data to be used against users,” said Brendan Steinhauser, chief executive officer of The Alliance for Secure AI, one of the groups that endorsed the bill.
“The People-First Chatbot Act sets sensible and necessary safeguards to prevent AI companies’ chatbots from targeting children and blurring the line between AI and human interaction,” Mr. Steinhauser said. “Rep. Foushee has taken an important step to address this issue. By setting clear rules on data privacy and safety, users will have greater trust in how AI chatbots collect and handle their information.”
“By forcing companies to dismantle manipulative design features, requiring strict safety checks for compulsive usage and banning the harvesting of kids’ private data, this bill draws a clear line in the sand,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.
The bill was based on model legislation developed by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), the Consumer Federation of America, and Fairplay, EPIC said in a news release.
“As the deployment of chatbots has already led to devastating harms, it is time for Congress to establish clear safeguards to rein in this technology,” said Kara Williams, an attorney for EPIC. “The People-First Chatbot Act tackles the root of the chatbot problem by protecting users from exploitative data practices and establishing a clear framework to hold companies accountable for the harms their products cause.”
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