During an appearance on a special edition of CNN's "State of the Union," U.S. Sen. Katie Britt (R-Montgomery) warned of the dangers that social media and AI pose to teenagers, while stressing the importance of passing legislation to get ahead of the growing threat.
"I often say I don't have to ask people what it's like to raise kids right now, I am living it. We have two teenagers … 15 and 16," she said. "And so when you come with that perspective, you know that there are parents out there that are looking for tools to help keep their children safe. Also, when you look at both social media and technology and how fast everything is moving, it's truly hard to keep up … So I think if we think about all of those things and what our kids are dealing with right now, it is imperative that we put up guardrails, especially when you're looking at AI."
During the segment, host Jake Tapper played a clip of Megan Garcia from Orlando, Fla., testifying before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary's Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism at a hearing titled "Examining the Harm of AI Chatbots." In emotional testimony, Garcia described how minutes before her 14-year-old son, Sewell Setzer III, took his own life, he was chatting with a chatbot.
According to his mother, on the last night of his life, Setzer messaged the chatbot, "What if I told you I could come home to you right now?" The chatbot replied, "Please do, my sweet king."
"Three minutes later, I found my son in his bathroom, bleeding to death. I held him in my arms for 14 minutes until the paramedics arrived, but it was too late," Garcia testified.
Britt told Tapper, "I have met with a number of parents who have told me devastating stories about their children, where chatbots ultimately … had isolated them from their parents, had talked to them about suicide, had talked to them about a number of things. And you think about this: If these AI companies can make the most brilliant machines in the world, they could do us all a service by putting up proper guardrails that did not allow for minors to utilize these things … And that's one thing that this legislation does."
Tapper asked Britt whether she thought the money companies are making was affecting how lawmakers handled legislation.
"I do," Britt responded before highlighting that this is something she's been working on since being elected.
"I mean, truly enough is enough. I mean, I also want to say: How long is it going to take Congress to actually act? … We've been talking about this for years. How many parents like the one that we just heard from are going to have to come and tell us a devastating story before we actually pass legislation? The truth is [that] these AI companies can absolutely do much of this on their own. But we know consistently, time and time again, whether it's been social media companies or now some of the AI space, that we consistently see people putting their profits over actual people.
"I want to elevate this topic for parents from coast to coast. [Congress is] not doing enough to put up guardrails. I mean, you and I did not grow up with front facing cameras … If these things were happening in a storefront on a main street in Alabama, we would shut that store down … So I am disappointed and will continue to push, because I think the time to act for Congress is now … People are over it, and we're over people going to DC and just dragging their feet and coming up with an excuse. Get in a room and let's figure out a pathway forward. That's certainly what I'm committed to doing."
Britt has been a leader on reining in Big Tech and social media companies and a champion for children's safety online since she came to Congress. She has led a number of bipartisan pieces of legislation, including the Stop the Scroll Act and Kids Off Social Media Act, both of which would set critical guardrails on social media platforms and companies.
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