ICYMI: Chairman Hawley Exposes AI Chatbots for Harming Children

ICYMI: Chairman Hawley Exposes AI Chatbots for Harming Children

Wednesday, September 17, 2025

'Every Parent's Worst Nightmare'

U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, held a hearing to expose the growing harms to children posed by online chatbots like Character.AI, OpenAI's ChatGPT and Meta.

The hearing featured new testimony from parents of chatbot victims as well as AI safety experts and psychologists-one of whom recently issued a health advisory for AI chatbots.

One mother testifying under the alias 'Jane Doe' stated during her opening testimony, "Character.AI was marketed in the Apple Store as 'fun and safe' with an age rating of 12 plus. My son downloaded the app, and within months, he went from being happy, social teenager to somebody I didn't even recognize… My son developed abuse-like behaviors and paranoia, daily panic attacks, isolation, self harm and homicidal thoughts. He stopped eating and bathing. He lost 20 pounds. He withdrew from our family… And one day he cut his arm open with a knife in front of his siblings and me. I had no idea the psychological harm an AI chatbot could do until I saw it in my son and I saw his light turn dark."

Senator Hawley concluded the hearing by saying, "If we've learned anything today it's that these companies cannot be trusted with this power. They cannot be trusted with this profit. They cannot be trusted to do the right thing. They're not doing the right thing. They are literally taking the lives of our kids. There is nothing they will not do for profit and for power… I've introduced legislation that would allow every victim and every parent of a victim to be able to go to court and sue these companies, because it is my firm belief that until they are subject to a jury, they are not going to change their ways. And it is past time that they changed their ways. We cannot go on like this."

Following testimony, Senator Hawley doubled down on his invitation to Zuckerberg, daring him to answer to the witnesses' damning accusations.

Senator Hawley launched an investigation into Meta last month after disturbing reports exposed the company's AI chatbots for engaging children in "romantic" and "sensual" online exchanges. Senator Hawley probed how Meta-as well as other tech companies across the generative AI space, including OpenAI's ChatGPT-have been misleading Congress and parents on the policies behind their chatbots.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg turned down the opportunity to testify and his response to Senator Hawley's demand for Meta's communications and AI chatbot policies is due Friday, September 19. Senator Hawley has introduced legislation that would crack down on the proliferation of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online by allowing victims to sue companies that host it.

Watch the full hearing here.

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