Exclusive: Sen. Hawley says AI profits don't justify "destroying children's lives"
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Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said on Wednesday at Axios' AI+DC Summit that Congress needs to quickly pass legislation to ban AI chatbots from targeting minors.
Why it matters: As the White House rolls out its AI plan, Hawley, a potential 2028 presidential contender, is breaking with Republicans and carving out one of the toughest anti-AI positions in Congress.
What they're saying: "The first thing we need to do is we need to pass legislation that would prevent AI chatbots from targeting minor children," Hawley told Axios' Ashley Gold onstage. "I mean, if we can't agree on that, I don't know what we will be able to agree on."
- "Our message to the companies has got to be no amount of profit justifies destroying children's lives," Hawley said.
- Hawley said that he hopes his chatbots bill, the GUARD Act, will be marked up and advanced soon given its bipartisan support.
Hawley also called the news that a jury on Wednesday found Big Tech giants Meta and YouTube negligent in a landmark social media trial a "huge deal" that he hopes will be a "wake-up call to Congress." (A jury sided with a plaintiff who argued the companies were to blame for her social media addiction.)
- Hawley has been vocal about how conversations with parents whose children were harmed after interacting with AI chatbots spurred his view that Congress needs to regulate AI.
Hawley also weighed in on Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) newly-unveiled legislation to pause all new data center construction nationwide, saying that it "gets at" the need to address local concerns over electricity bills and high water usage.
- Hawley said that "we will be punished" if lawmakers allow tech companies to "rough roughshod over voters" by not requiring them to take any action to address those concerns.
- "People are not going to put up with that, and I think if you want to be pro-worker, you gotta start doing stuff for workers."
Context: Hawley has emerged as a leading Republican skeptic of AI, opposing efforts to block state AI rules and sponsoring legislation aimed at constraining AI companies.
- The White House last week released its recommendations for Congress on AI, but the four-page framework doesn't resolve longstanding issues among Republicans around protecting kids and overriding state law.
- Hawley said there's "a lot to work with" in the framework, particularly on child safety online.
The bottom line: Hawley is pushing for some AI guardrails as the White House leans into rapid growth and a light-touch approach favored by industry.
Go deeper: Inside Josh Hawley's anti-AI strategy
