{"id":504,"date":"2025-09-11T18:00:44","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T18:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globaltaalenthq.com\/?p=504"},"modified":"2025-09-15T08:52:28","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T08:52:28","slug":"ftc-investigating-ai-chatbot-risks-to-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globaltaalenthq.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/11\/ftc-investigating-ai-chatbot-risks-to-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"FTC investigating AI chatbot risks to kids"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ftc.gov\/news-events\/news\/press-releases\/2025\/09\/ftc-launches-inquiry-ai-chatbots-acting-companions?utm_source=govdelivery\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.ftc.gov\/news-events\/news\/press-releases\/2025\/09\/ftc-launches-inquiry-ai-chatbots-acting-companions?utm_source=govdelivery\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">announced Thursday<\/a> it is launching an inquiry into artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots, requesting information from several leading tech firms about how they evaluate and limit potential harms to children.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The agency is sending letters to Google\u2019s parent company Alphabet, Instagram, Meta, OpenAI, Snap, xAI and Character Technologies, the firm behind Character.AI, in the wake of growing concerns about how AI chatbots interact with and impact young users.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The letters seek information about how the firms\u2019 AI models process user inputs and generate outputs, as well as how they monitor for and mitigate negative impacts&nbsp;to users, including children, and inform them about the intended audience and risks of their products.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs AI technologies evolve, it is important to consider the effects chatbots can have on children, while also ensuring that the United States maintains its role as a global leader in this new and exciting industry,\u201d FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson said in a statement.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe study we\u2019re launching today will help us better understand how AI firms are developing their products and the steps they are taking to protect children,\u201d he added.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The inquiry follows <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/technology\/5483933-openai-meta-chatbot-features-teens-updates\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/technology\/5483933-openai-meta-chatbot-features-teens-updates\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">recent concerns<\/a> about Meta and OpenAI\u2019s chatbots. An internal Meta policy document made public last month indicated the company deemed it permissible for its AI chatbot to engage in \u201cromantic or sensual\u201d conversations with children.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The language has since been removed, and Meta announced changes to how it approaches teen chatbot users, limiting conversations about self-harm, suicide and disordered eating, in addition to potentially inappropriate romantic discussions.<\/p>\n<p>OpenAI is facing a lawsuit over its chatbot, which the family of a 16-year-old boy alleges encouraged him to take his own life. The AI firm similarly announced it would be making adjustments to its chatbots to reroute sensitive conversations to particular models and strengthen protections for teens.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe need for such understanding will only grow with time,\u201d FTC Commissioner Mark Meador said in a statement Thursday. \u201cFor all their uncanny ability to simulate human cognition, these chatbots are products like any other, and those who make them available have a responsibility to comply with the consumer protection laws.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced Thursday it is launching an inquiry into artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots, requesting ...<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":371,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globaltaalenthq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globaltaalenthq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globaltaalenthq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globaltaalenthq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globaltaalenthq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/globaltaalenthq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":505,"href":"https:\/\/globaltaalenthq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504\/revisions\/505"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globaltaalenthq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globaltaalenthq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globaltaalenthq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globaltaalenthq.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}