The Federal Trade Commission ordered Alphabet Inc.’s Google, OpenAI Inc., Meta Platforms Inc. and four other make
rs of artificial intelligence chatbots to turn over information about the impacts of their technologies on kids.
The antitrust and consumer protection agency said Thursday that it sent the orders to gather information to st
udy how firms measure, test and monitor their chatbots and what steps they have taken to limit their use by kids and
teens. The companies also include Meta’s Instagram, Snap Inc., Elon Musk’s xAI and Character Technologies Inc., the developer of Character.AI.
Chatbot developers face intensifying scrutiny over whether they’re doing enough to ensure safety of their
services and prevent users from engaging in dangerous behavior.
Last month, the parents of a California high school student sued OpenAI, alleging that its ChatGPT isolate
d their son from family and helped him plan his suicide in April.
The company said it has extended its sympathies to the family and is
reviewing the complaint. Character Technologies and Google were hit with a similar suit last fall. The judge in that case
allowed most of the family’s claims to proceed and rejected the app-maker’s argument that chatbot output was protected by the First Amendment.
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Google and Snap didn’t have an immediate comment, while OpenAI and xAI didn’t immediately respon
d to requests. Meta declined to comment. The company has taken steps recently aimed at ensuring that chatbo
ts avoid engaging with minors on topics including self-harm and suicide.
A Character.AI spokesperson said the company has invested “a tremendous amount of resources” into sa
fety features, including a separate version for under-18 users and incl
ude disclaimers in chats that the chatbots are not real people and “should be treated as fiction.”
Under US law, technology companies are barred from collecting data about children under the age of 13 without parental permission. For years, members of
Congress have sought to extend those protections to older teens, though so far no legislation has managed to advance.
The FTC is conducting the inquiry under its so-called 6(b) authority that allows it to issue subpoenas to co
nduct market studies. The agency generally issues a report on its findings after analyzing the information from
companies, though that process can take years to complete.
Although the information is collected for research purposes, the FTC can use any details it gleans to open official inve
stigations or aid in existing probes. Since 2023, the agency has been probing whether OpenAI has violated consumer protection laws with ChatGPT.