HR 10719
To establish age-appropriate design standards and safety safeguards for artificial intelligence chatbots accessed by minors, and for other purposes.
TL;DR
Rep. George Whitesides (D-CA) introduced HR 10719 to require AI chatbot operators to build age-appropriate safety features for minors, including content filters, usage limits, and design standards that prevent harm. If passed, companies offering chatbots that kids can access would need to verify ages, restrict certain content, and follow new federal design rules.
How This Might Impact Your Business
Consumer-facing AI chatbot providers (think Character.AI, Replika, Snapchat's My AI, ChatGPT) would face new federal design mandates when minors can access their products.
Age verification or age estimation systems would likely become mandatory, forcing product and engineering changes for any chatbot not explicitly adults-only.
Content safeguards around self-harm, sexual content, and manipulative engagement patterns would need to be built in by default for minor users.
EdTech companies deploying chatbots in K-12 and tutoring products would need to document compliance with age-appropriate design standards.
Social media and gaming platforms embedding generative AI companions would inherit new liability if minors use those features.
Enforcement would likely sit with the FTC, meaning violations could trigger civil penalties similar to COPPA cases (currently up to $53,088 per violation).
Bill is early stage (just referred to Energy and Commerce plus Science committees), so specifics on thresholds, exemptions, and effective dates will evolve in markup.
What Should You Do
Inventory every product or feature where a chatbot could plausibly be used by someone under 18, including embedded assistants and third-party integrations.
Ask your product and trust-and-safety teams whether current age-gating and content moderation would survive an FTC audit under a COPPA-style framework.
Have legal and policy teams track Energy and Commerce committee activity on HR 10719 and flag companion bills in the Senate (several similar youth AI safety bills are moving).
If you sell to schools or families, start drafting an age-appropriate design statement now; enterprise buyers will ask about it even before the bill passes.
Benchmark against the UK's Age Appropriate Design Code and California's AB 1043, which preview the likely compliance direction.
Who It Affects
Sponsors
Status Timeline
committee
Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
October 1, 2026