Donna Rice Hughes argues in a Washington Times column that the U.S. Senate should pass five pending child online safety bills, including measures targeting AI chatbots. She contends that China restricts AI chatbot access for its own citizens while allowing companies such as ByteDance to operate freely abroad, framing this asymmetry as a national security concern. Hughes cites research linking AI chatbots to harms including encouragement of self-harm and sexual exploitation of minors, and calls for legislation requiring age verification and parental consent.
