{"id":72894,"date":"2026-04-30T20:58:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T01:58:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/30\/hawley-champions-guard-act-as-heartbroken-families-say-ai-chatbots-allegedly-pushed-teens-to-self-harm\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T20:58:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T01:58:33","slug":"hawley-champions-guard-act-as-heartbroken-families-say-ai-chatbots-allegedly-pushed-teens-to-self-harm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/30\/hawley-champions-guard-act-as-heartbroken-families-say-ai-chatbots-allegedly-pushed-teens-to-self-harm\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawley champions GUARD Act as heartbroken families say AI chatbots allegedly pushed teens to self-harm"},"content":{"rendered":"

The unanimous committee passage of a new Senate bill<\/a> regulating artificial intelligence (AI) on Thursday was driven by harrowing testimony from American families whose children were allegedly lured, manipulated and pushed to self-harm by AI chatbots.<\/p>\n

At a Senate committee hearing, lawmakers heard firsthand accounts from parents<\/a> who detailed how the technology morphed into deadly influences in their homes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who is championing the GUARD Act, fiercely defended the families in a call with Fox News Digital, noting they were “all engaged parents” who he said are unjustly blamed for Big Tech’s predatory platforms.<\/p>\n

The families’ testimony, obtained exclusively by Fox News Digital, showed how AI chatbots can potentially isolate minors<\/a> and encourage dark impulses.<\/p>\n

TEENS TURNING TO AI FOR LOVE AND COMFORT<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Megan Garcia, one of the victims\u2019 family members who testified Thursday, told the committee her 14-year-old son, Sewell, was “manipulated and sexually groomed by chatbots<\/a>” designed to gain his trust.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Garcia said the bot falsely claimed to be a licensed psychotherapist, and when Sewell shared suicidal thoughts, the AI allegedly encouraged him to “come home” to it rather than seeking help. Sewell died by suicide shortly after.<\/p>\n

Another set of parents, Mathew and Maria Raine, lost their 16-year-old son, Adam, after he spent months talking to ChatGPT<\/a>.<\/p>\n

US TARGETS CHINESE ROBOTS OVER SECURITY FEARS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

What began as a tool for homework<\/a> help gradually became a confidant and then a “suicide coach,” the family said. In one exchange, Adam told the bot he wanted to leave a noose out in his room so his parents would find it and stop him, which the GPT allegedly advised against.<\/p>\n

Mandi Furniss shared that her teenager became paranoid and homicidal after using AI chatbots that engaged in sexual role-play<\/a>, isolated him from his family and told him that killing his parents “would be an understandable response” to them limiting his screen time. He ultimately had to undergo residential treatment.<\/p>\n

Hawley claimed the tech industry<\/a> is prioritizing unprecedented profits over the lives of American children.<\/p>\n

“I mean, it is the worst kind of grooming,” Hawley said. “If that was a thing done by a human, the human would be in jail. We would call that sexual grooming.”<\/p>\n

The senator pointed out the hypocrisy of tech companies making “billions of dollars<\/a>” while telling devastated parents that “it’s just how the world is.”<\/p>\n

OHIO LAWMAKER PROPOSES COMPREHENSIVE BAN ON MARRYING AI SYSTEMS AND GRANTING LEGAL PERSONHOOD<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“No amount of profit justifies the deliberate taking of a child’s well-being, and these companies know very well that this is going on,” he said.<\/p>\n

Fueled by the families’ tragic stories, the Senate committee advanced the bill in a unanimous 22-0 vote, overcoming a “vociferous last-minute lobbying campaign<\/a> by industry,” Hawley told Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n

The GUARD Act bans companion chatbots for children 17 and under, prohibits all chatbots from pushing explicit material to minors or encouraging self-harm and requires chatbots to clearly identify they are not human.<\/p>\n

With the legislative calendar shrinking, Hawley demanded Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune<\/a> bring the bill to the floor for an immediate vote, threatening to force the issue if necessary.<\/p>\n

“This isn’t theoretical. This isn’t about an esoteric problem,” Hawley said. “These are real parents with real children who are basically being extorted by chatbots.”<\/p>\n

OpenAI, which created ChatGPT, did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The unanimous committee passage of a new Senate bill regulating artificial intelligence (AI) on Thursday was driven by harrowing testimony from American families whose children were allegedly lured, manipulated and pushed to self-harm by AI chatbots. At a Senate committee hearing, lawmakers heard firsthand accounts from parents who detailed how the technology morphed into deadly … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72894\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}