{"id":242572,"date":"2026-05-08T19:24:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T23:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/08\/congress-narrowed-the-guard-act-but-serious-problems-remain\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T17:25:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T21:25:12","slug":"congress-narrowed-the-guard-act-but-serious-problems-remain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/08\/congress-narrowed-the-guard-act-but-serious-problems-remain\/","title":{"rendered":"Congress Narrowed the GUARD Act, But Serious Problems Remain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Congress Narrowed the GUARD Act, But Serious Problems Remain<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.eff.org\/deeplinks\/2026\/05\/congress-narrowed-guard-act-serious-problems-remain<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-05-08 19:24:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.eff.org<\/a><\/p>\n

Following criticism, lawmakers have narrowed the GUARD Act, a bill aimed at restricting minors\u2019 access to certain AI systems. The <\/span>earlier version could have applied broadly<\/span> to nearly every AI-powered chatbot or search tool. The amended bill focuses more narrowly on so-called \u201cAI companions\u201d\u2014conversational systems designed to simulate emotional or interpersonal interactions with users.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That change does address some of the broadest concerns raised about the original proposal, though some questions about the bill\u2019s reach remain. Bottom line: the revised bill still creates serious problems for privacy, online speech, and parental choice.<\/span><\/p>\n

TAKE ACTION<\/p>\n

Tell Congress: oppose the guard act<\/p>\n

The new GUARD Act still requires companies offering AI companions to implement burdensome age-verification systems tied to users\u2019 real-world identities. Even parents who specifically want their teenagers to use these systems would still face significant hurdles. A family might decide that a conversational AI tool helps an isolated teenager practice social interaction, or engage in harmless creative roleplay. A parent deployed in the military might set up a persistent AI storyteller for a younger child. Under the revised bill, those users could still face mandatory age checks tied to sensitive personal or financial information before they or their children can use these services.<\/span><\/p>\n

The revised bill also leaves important definitions unclear while sharply increasing penalties for developers and companies that get those judgments wrong. Congress narrowed the GUARD Act. But it is still trying to solve a complicated social problem with vague legal standards, heavy liability, and privacy-invasive verification systems.<\/span><\/p>\n

Intrusive Age-Verification Remains In The Bill<\/h3>\n

The revised GUARD Act still requires companies offering AI companions to verify that users are adults through a \u201creasonable age verification\u201d system. The bill allows a broader set of verification methods than the…<\/span><\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Congress Narrowed the GUARD Act, But Serious Problems Remain https:\/\/www.eff.org\/deeplinks\/2026\/05\/congress-narrowed-guard-act-serious-problems-remain Publish Date: 2026-05-08 19:24:00 Source…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":242575,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.eff.org\/files\/banner_library\/age_verification-cell_phone-access_denied.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-242572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-privacy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242572"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242572"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":242577,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242572\/revisions\/242577"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}