Virginia lawmakers target teen AI chatbot use

State of play: A 2025 Pew survey shows that about 3 in 10 teen chatbot users use chatbots daily.

• One bill advancing in the General Assembly would restrict certain AI companion chatbots from being available to minors and require age verification.
• Another could add stricter child-safety requirements to AI systems, like default privacy settings for minors.

Zoom in: Separate legislation would require every school board in the commonwealth to adopt a policy that bans requiring or encouraging students to use AI chatbots to complete assignments.

• It would also ask the Department of Education to collect information on how AI is being used for student learning across Virginia's K-12 schools.
• There's also a measure to require the Board of Education to develop statewide guidance on safely and ethically using AI.

Of note: Last week, legislators punted a bill that would make it illegal for an AI chatbot to operate without detection systems for suicidal thoughts expressed by users to next year.

Between the lines: Even with added guardrails, enforcing AI rules at the state level might be complicated.

• And some platforms, like OpenAI and Character.AI, have recently launched (and tightened) parental controls this fall.

Yes, but: Pilyoung Kim, director of the Center for Brain, AI and Child, told Axios that it's not hard to skirt protections.

• Kim found that while testing OpenAI's new parental controls with her 15-year-old son, she could bypass them by opening a new account with an older age.

What we're watching: Trump signed an executive order in December to override state AI laws — including those aimed at protecting children — in favor of a single national framework.