Congress is moving quickly on the GUARD Act, an age-gating bill that would require age verification for a broad range of online tools including AI-powered services, with a key vote expected this week.

The GUARD Act would require companies to verify the age of every user—through measures like government ID or third-party age-checking systems—and block anyone under 18 from interacting with tools defined as 'AI chatbots' or 'AI companions.' The bill defines an 'AI chatbot' as any system that generates responses that aren't fully pre-written by the developer, and an 'AI companion' as any chatbot producing human-like responses designed to 'encourage or facilitate' interpersonal or emotional interaction.

Under the bill's broad definitions, everyday tools would be affected: a high school student could be barred from asking homework help tools questions about algebra problems, and a teenager trying to return a product could be blocked from using a standard customer-service chatbot. Companies face fines of up to $100,000 per violation, which creates incentive to overblock rather than parse distinctions between permitted and prohibited tools.

The age-verification requirement applies to all users, not just minors, requiring collection of sensitive personal information like government IDs, financial data, or biometric identifiers. The body notes that millions of people have outdated information on their IDs or lack government ID entirely, and that databases of sensitive identity information become targets for breaches, making anonymous or pseudonymous use of online tools harder or impossible.