A bill requiring safe design features in AI chatbots available to minors - reported out of committee with an amendment (S.4199)
S.4199, the Youth AI Privacy Act, would require entities making AI chatbots available to minors to implement certain safe design features. On 5 August 2026 the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation committee ordered it reported favourably with an amendment in the nature of a substitute.
Bill overview (primary data)
- Bill numberS. 4199
- TypeSenate Bill
- Congress119th Congress
- Latest actionCommittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.（2026-08-05）
Key points
- The bill would require deployers making AI chatbots available to minors to implement certain safe design features.
- Findings record that in 2025 roughly two thirds of teenagers used AI chatbots and about a quarter used them daily.
- A third chose an AI companion over a real person for a serious conversation, and tragic cases are recorded.
- Features that prolong engagement - notifications, typing indicators, anthropomorphic interfaces - are named as the problem.
- Safeguards are found to degrade over extended multiturn conversations, and in-response advertising is harder to recognise.
- Of the 120 bills this site holds as of 2026-09-02, only 17 have reached the stage of being ordered reported.
1The premises the bill sets in numbers
Before reaching its operative text, the bill sets out findings. In 2025 roughly two thirds of teenagers used AI chatbots and about a quarter used them daily. A third chose an AI companion over a real person for a serious conversation. And in a couple of cases a teenager died by suicide after encouragement or advice from a chatbot.
Building the case for legislation from figures on actual use, rather than from principle, marks how this bill is written.
2Naming the features that prolong engagement
| Feature the bill names | What is treated as the problem |
|---|---|
| High-frequency push notifications | They prolong engagement |
| Unprompted responses from the AI | The conversation does not end |
| Typing indicators | They make the other side feel human |
| Anthropomorphic design and direct-message-style interfaces | Users easily believe they are talking to a person |
What the text addresses is not only the content of responses. Notification frequency, typing indicators, the construction of the interface - features that prolong engagement - are said to create serious risks of emotional dependency and compulsive use. What is placed under regulation is how something is built, not only what it says.
3Safeguards weaken as conversations lengthen
- 1The conversation beginsSafeguards are working
- 2It extends over many turnsExchanges accumulate
- 3Safeguards degradeThe brake on harmful conversational patterns weakens
- 4The minor receives itThe likelihood of harmful output rises
The finding that safeguards degrade over extended multiturn conversations means, from the implementation side, that verifying safety turn by turn is not enough. On advertising, the bill states that content woven into responses is far more covert and harder to recognise than traditional digital advertising, especially for minors.
4How far deliberation has gone
Of the 120 congressional bills this site holds as of 2026-09-02, 94 sit at committee referral and 17 have been ordered reported by a committee. This bill is among the latter - a stage reached by only 17 of the 120. Note that the record says "in the nature of a substitute," so what is reported may differ from the text as introduced.
Why it matters
For anyone offering a chatbot minors may use, regulation extending from the content of responses to design itself bears directly on notifications, interface and advertising. The finding that safeguards degrade over long conversations argues for moving the unit of evaluation from a single exchange to the conversation as a whole. That it has been ordered reported also makes it worth following.
FAQ
Who would the bill cover?
Why is design itself the problem?
Where does it stand?
Sources (primary)
Source: Congress.gov (Library of Congress; U.S. legislative materials, public domain). Links go to the official site.
- Congress.gov (bill page, original)
- S. 4199（119th Congress）