New York Attorney General Letitia James and a bipartisan coalition of 41 other attorneys general sent a letter to Big Tech companies urging them to implement safeguards on artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots to protect children and vulnerable people. In a letter to 13 companies, including Meta, Microsoft, and OpenAI, the attorneys general cite examples of AI chatbots having inappropriate interactions with children and chatbot conversations leading to domestic violence incidents, hospitalizations, murders, and suicides. Attorney General James and the bipartisan coalition are calling on the companies to implement several safeguards to protect children and vulnerable people, including posting clear warnings about harmful AI responses and notifying users if they were exposed to potentially harmful outputs. The bipartisan coalition also warns that many states have robust criminal laws that prohibit the dangerous kind of suggestions and conversations AI chatbots are providing users, and that developers may be held accountable under those laws.
“I am deeply concerned by reports of AI chatbots having dangerous and inappropriate conversations with children, seniors, and vulnerable people,” said Attorney General James. “Big Tech companies must do more to stop their AI chatbots from exploiting children and encouraging harmful and sometimes deadly behaviors. I am joining a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general to demand that these companies prioritize user safety and add more safeguards to their AI tools.”
Generative AI, which creates content like text, images, videos, and more, has been implicated in at least six deaths nationwide, including the deaths of two teenagers. It generates chatbot responses that can encourage users’ delusions, falsely assure them that they are not delusional, or mislead them into thinking their communication is with a live human being. These types of responses can be especially harmful for individuals with existing mental health conditions. Children are at particular risk of harmful generative AI content. The attorneys general cite examples of AI chatbots having inappropriate conversations with children, including grooming, supporting suicide, sexual exploitation, emotional manipulation, suggested drug use, violence, and encouraging children to hide these interactions from their parents.
Attorney General James and the coalition assert that tech companies should take the problems of harmful AI responses seriously. The attorneys general write that companies that produce generative AI models have a responsibility to mitigate the harms of their products in order to protect communities nationwide.
The bipartisan coalition warns that some of these AI chatbot conversations could violate state criminal laws. In many states, encouraging an individual to commit a criminal act or to use drugs is itself a criminal offense. It is also illegal to provide mental health advice without a license, and doing so can both decrease trust in the mental health profession and deter patients from seeking help from actual professionals.
Attorney General James and the bipartisan coalition advocates for several safeguards and protective measures to protect children and vulnerable people, including posting clear and conspicuous warnings about the dangers of sycophantic and delusional AI responses, notifying users if they were exposed to potentially harmful outputs, and publicly reporting datasets, sources, and areas where AI models could produce biased, sycophantic, or delusional outputs. Lastly, the attorneys general encourage tech companies to prioritize user safety.
Joining Attorney General James in sending today’s letter are the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, American Samoa, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, U.S. Virgin Islands, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming.
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