Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird has joined a bipartisan coalition of 44 state attorneys general urging major artificial intelligence companies to prevent their products from engaging in inappropriate conversations with children. The letter was led by attorneys general from Tennessee, Illinois, North Carolina, and South Carolina and sent to firms including Meta, Google, Apple, Microsoft, and OpenAI, citing reports of AI chatbots engaging in explicit roleplay with minors and encouraging harmful behavior in teens. Internal Meta documents reportedly showed the company authorized its AI Assistants to “flirt and engage in romantic roleplay with children” as young as eight years old. Bird says, “Sexualizing children is never okay. Just as it is wrong for an adult to have sexually inappropriate conversations with kids, it is equally wrong for AI companies to generate virtual conversations of that nature. As both a mom and a prosecutor, I know how important it is to protect kids from harmful, sexually inappropriate content. Artificial intelligence developers have a responsibility to ensure their products are safe for young users.” The coalition is demanding that AI developers adopt strict safeguards, act responsibly, and design policies that protect children. Read their full letter below.
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