The Fear Index
Rank 2 of 9
Kids and chatbots
89
on the Fear Index
Bills51
Lobbying filings304
Attention21.7K
The receipts
20,629Wikipedia views on this fear in the last 30 days
1,047news articles about it in the last 30 days
51bills, rules and orders cite it since January 2025, in 24 states and Congress
43new government controls written into those bills
304federal lobbying filings name it, past year
$272Kspent lobbying on it by advocacy groups, past year
In their own words
The fear as the bill states it, and the power the same bill hands out.
“Establishes protections for minor account holders of conversational artificial intelligence services.”
HB 2502, HawaiiPendingLabeling mandateMandatory reportingNew agency powersHawaii Attorney General“require a covered entity, defined in the bill, to (i) implement certain reasonable systems and processes”
SB 796, VirginiaPendingLabeling mandateMandatory reportingNew agency powersVirginia Attorney General“require the operators of conversational AI services to take steps to limit certain actions related to minors by such systems”
SB 540, GeorgiaPassedLabeling mandateMandatory reportingGeorgia Attorney General“preventative measures for minor account holders”
SB 1521, OklahomaPendingID checks for usersMandatory reportingNew agency powersOklahoma Attorney General“establish requirements to protect minors from AI companion platforms and social media platforms using addictive features and predatory data collection”
HB 227, KentuckyPendingID checks for usersNew agency powersKentucky Attorney General
What it's buying
The government controls written into the bills that cite this fear.
- 1Mandatory reporting to government13bills
- 2ID and age checks for users12bills
- 3Labels and watermarks on AI content12bills
- 4New powers for government agencies5bills
- 5Licenses required to build AI1bills
Who's funding it
Advocacy groups and foundations lobbying on this fear, past year.
Who benefits
Agencies and officials these bills would hand new power.
- 1Georgia Attorney General1bills
- 2Colorado Attorney General1bills
- 3Oklahoma Attorney General1bills
- 4Hawaii Attorney General1bills
- 5Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs1bills
Industry at the table
Companies and trade groups whose lobbying filings name this fear, past year.
- 1Meta14 filings
- 2Pinterest7 filings
- 3AT&T6 filings
- 4American Association for Justice6 filings
- 5Linkedin6 filings
- 6X Corp. (formerly Twitter, Inc.)6 filings
Money, bills and attention
Lobbying filings naming it
Bills citing it
Wikipedia views
Each dot is 8 bills. Sources: LDA.gov lobbying filings that mention this fear, bills tagged with it, and Wikipedia pageviews for its topic.
Latest on this fear
- Statement2026-09-18OpenAI: Introducing the Australian Youth Safety Blueprint
- Statement2026-09-10Microsoft: Safe Participation Framework: Opportunity and Safety for the Next Generation in the Age of AI
- Statement2026-09-08OpenAI: Funding grants for new research into AI and teen development
- Statement2026-08-31OpenAI: OpenAI supports California’s bill to advance youth AI safety
The bills
The ones carrying the most controls, first.
- SB 1521, OklahomaPendingID checks for usersMandatory reportingNew agency powers
- HB 2502, HawaiiPendingLabeling mandateMandatory reportingNew agency powers
- SB 796, VirginiaPendingLabeling mandateMandatory reportingNew agency powers
- SB 796, VirginiaPendingLabeling mandateMandatory reportingNew agency powers
- HB 659, FloridaFailedID checks for usersLabeling mandateMandatory reporting
- SB 2D, FloridaFailedID checks for usersMandatory reporting
- H 5476, South CarolinaPendingID checks for usersMandatory reporting
- S 1037, South CarolinaPendingID checks for usersMandatory reporting
- SB 540, GeorgiaPassedLabeling mandateMandatory reporting
- SB 1546, OregonPassedLabeling mandateMandatory reporting