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CIVIC HERALD
HR 8623 · 119th Congress · HouseIn committee

GUARD Act

In plain language: To protect children, this law bans minors under 18 from using artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots designed to act as friends, companions, or therapists. Companies offering AI chatbots must require all users to create accounts and verify their age using official identification or other highly reliable methods, rather than just entering a birthdate. Chatbots are also required to declare they are not human every 30 minutes, are banned from pretending to be licensed professionals like doctors or lawyers, and must securely handle and delete user verification data.

Provisional: our plain-language summary, pending review.

Provisionalunreviewed: impact, issue tags, provisions, stakeholders, summary
People affected—The bill applies to all U.S. users of AI chatbots, a large but not precisely specified population; the text names no headcount or enrollment figure.
Fiscal magnitude—no CBO estimate published
Reach58provisional · pending reviewrigor: heuristic llm
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Issues

What this bill touches.

Market protections+52Personal data & privacy+42Speech & expression+38Regulation (cross-sector)+38Big-tech & platforms+60AI & emerging tech+65

The sign shows the bill's direction on each issue (+ toward, − away); the number is its magnitude. Color never encodes good or bad, and never party.

Who it affects

Who it helps · who it burdens.

Who it helps

  • minors (users under 18)Blocked from accessing AI companions (Sec. 6) and protected from deceptive AI interactions through mandatory human-identity disclosures and professional-claim bans (Sec. 5), reducing exposure to manipulation and emotional exploitation.provisional
  • all AI chatbot usersEntitled to clear AI-identity disclosures at the start of each conversation and every 30 minutes, and to accurate statements that the chatbot is not a licensed professional, helping users make informed decisions about relying on chatbot advice (Sec. 5).provisional

Who it burdens

  • existing AI chatbot usersMust provide verifiable age data (such as a government ID) to regain access to frozen accounts 180 days after enactment; self-reported birthdates and checkboxes are not accepted (Sec. 5).provisional
  • AI chatbot operators (covered entities)Must implement account-creation systems, age verification (including existing-account freezes), encrypted data handling, periodic re-verification, mandatory disclosures, and minor blocking — all within 180 days of enactment — and face civil penalties up to $100,000 per violation (Sec. 5, 6, 7).provisional

Who opposes it

  • AI companion service providersThe text directly bars operators of AI companions from allowing any user under 18 to access their service, eliminating that portion of their user base (Sec. 6).provisional

Dollar-level funding (FEC sector totals) is coming in a later phase.

What it does

The provisions, in plain language.

  1. Requires AI chatbot operators to make every user create an account before accessing the chatbot, and freezes all existing accounts 180 days after enactment until the account holder verifies their age using a government-issued ID or another reliable method (not a checkbox or self-reported birthdate).

    Sec. 5provisional

  2. Requires chatbot operators to verify each new user's age at account creation using a government-approved or commercially reliable method, and to periodically re-verify existing verified accounts to stay in compliance.

    Sec. 5provisional

  3. Requires chatbot operators to protect age-verification data with industry-standard encryption, collect only the minimum data needed, delete it as soon as verification is complete, and prohibits selling or sharing that data with any other party.

    Sec. 5provisional

  4. Requires every AI chatbot to clearly tell users it is an AI — not a human — at the start of each conversation and every 30 minutes, and bans chatbots from claiming to be human if directly asked.

    Sec. 5provisional

  5. Bans AI chatbots from claiming to be a licensed professional (such as a therapist, doctor, or lawyer), and requires them to disclose at the start of each conversation — and at regular intervals — that they do not provide medical, legal, financial, or psychological services, and that users should consult a real professional.

    Sec. 5provisional

How your members of Congress line up

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Timeline

How it moved.

  1. Apr 30, 2026Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
  2. Apr 30, 2026Introduced in House
  3. Apr 30, 2026Introduced in House

The original text

Read it for yourself.

Read the original text →

Sources & provenance

Congress.govrefreshed 23 days ago

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