Welcome back to, TIME's new twice-weekly newsletter about AI. If you're reading this in your browser, why not subscribe to have the next one delivered straight to your inbox? The chatbot platform, which allows users to chat with AIs that personify fictional characters, is the target of several lawsuits -- including one from Megan Garcia, a mother whose 14-year-old son died by suicide after becoming obsessed with one of the bots, which allegedly encouraged him to end his own life. In the wake of that lawsuit and others, last month Character.AI made a big announcement: it would ban users under 18 years old from having "open-ended conversations" with the chatbots on its platform. It was a huge pivot for a company that says Generations Z and Alpha make up the core of its more than 6 million daily active users, who spend an average of 70 to 80 minutes per day on the platform.

Pillay is an editorial fellow at TIME. Pillay is an editorial fellow at TIME. If you or someone you know may be experiencing a mental-health crisis or contemplating suicide, call or text 988. In emergencies, call 911, or seek care from a local hospital or mental health provider. A new bill introduced in Congress today would require anyone who owns, operates, or otherwise enables access to AI chatbots in the United States to verify the age of their users--and, if users are found to be minors, to prohibit them from using AI companions.

A U.S. lawmaker plans to introduce legislation in coming weeks to verify the location of artificial intelligence chips such as those made by Nvidia after they are sold. The effort to keep tabs on the chips, which drew bipartisan support from U.S. lawmakers, aims to address reports of widespread smuggling of Nvidia's chips into China in violation of U.S. export control laws. Nvidia's chips are a critical ingredient for creating AI systems such as chatbots, image generators and more specialized ones that can help craft biological weapons. Both U.S. President Donald Trump and his predecessor, Joe Biden, have implemented progressively tighter export controls of Nvidia's chips to China.

The bill would need companies to file such documents at least 30 days before publicly debuting their AI tools, or face a financial penalty. Such datasets encompass billions of lines of text and images or millions of hours of music and movies. "AI has the disruptive potential of changing our economy, our political system, and our day-to-day lives. We must balance the immense potential of AI with the crucial need for ethical guidelines and protections," Schiff said in a statement. Schiff's bill, which was first reported by Billboard, has received the support of numerous entertainment industry organizations and unions, including the Recording Industry Association of America, Professional Photographers of America, Directors Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

A day before the Senate Judiciary Committee grilled CEOs from tech companies about internet child safety, bipartisan lawmakers introduced a bill that would allow victims to sue people who create and distribute sexually-explicit deepfakes under certain circumstances. The Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits, or DEFIANCE Act, allows victims to sue if those who created the deepfakes knew, or "recklessly disregarded" that the victim did not consent to its making. The federal bill, introduced on Tuesday, came nearly a week after deepfake pornographic images of Taylor Swift flooded X. The social media platform temporarily removed the ability to search for Swift's name on X after the explicit content was viewed tens of millions of times. Only ten states currently have criminal laws against this form of manipulated media files.

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has introduced a new bill that would give it the power slap the biggest tech companies with a fine worth billions if they don't comply with its rules. It's a multi-faceted bill that's aimed at protecting consumers and encouraging competition, and it will allow the CMA to directly enforce the law instead of having to go through the court. If the bill passes, the agency's Digital Markets Unit (DMU) will be able to enforce a set of rules on how companies it deems to have "strategic market status" in key digital services have to operate. The CMA didn't name any specific company in its announcement, but the DMU will most likely identify Google, Apple and Amazon as organizations with strategic market status. The DMU could require them to be more transparent on how their app store review systems work or to open up their data to rivals -- in Google's case, it could be a rival search engine. If these companies fail to abide by the new rules, the DMU could fine them up to 10 percent of their global turnover.

A new bill will soon make it illegal to snoop on your neighbor with a drone. Called the Drone Integration and Zoning Act, the proposal deems airspace up to 200 feet over someone's home as their private property meaning punishments for trespassing could be enforced. The motion aims to distribute some of the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) authority over the nation's airspace to localities and private citizens by redefining'navigable airspace'. Sen. Mike Lee said from Utah, proposed the bill to congress on Wednesday stating, 'The FAA cannot feasibly or efficiently oversee millions of drones in every locality throughout the country.' 'The reason that the states have sovereign police powers to protect the property of their citizens is because issues of land use, privacy, trespass, and law enforcement make sense at the state and local level.' 'The best way to ensure public safety and allow this innovative industry to thrive is to empower the people closest to the ground to make local decisions in real time and that is exactly what the Drone Integration and Zoning Act does.'

A new Senate bill would require tech companies to label internet-connected devices equipped with either a camera or microphone. Introduced by Cory Gardner, a Republican senator from Colorado, the Protecting Privacy in our Homes Act is intended to enhance consumer privacy as more and more tech devices come equipped with surveillance tools that aren't always obvious. The Federal Trade Commission would be responsible for creating the specific language for the label and for determining and enforcing penalties for non-compliance. Amazon's Alexa (pictured above) comes with a microphone that records users even when they're not using the device. The bill would exclude devices marketed specifically as cameras or microphones.

Today, 2020 Democratic presidential candidate and Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton is expected to introduce a bill that would limit how smart device manufacturers like Amazon and Google can collect your data. The Automatic Listening and Exploitation Act, or the ALEXA Act for short, would empower the Federal Trade Commission to seek immediate penalties if a smart device is found to have recorded user conversations without the device's wake word being triggered. For Google's home devices, for instance, that would mean recording a conversation without being prompted by "Hey, Google." Moulton's bill also addresses smart doorbells and their video capabilities. "Smart speakers and doorbells are great, but consumers should have a way to fight back when tech companies collect more data than Americans have agreed to give up," Moulton said.

Last Wednesday, US lawmakers introduced a new bill that represents one of the country's first major efforts to regulate AI. There are likely to be more to come. It hints at a dramatic shift in Washington's stance toward one of this century's most powerful technologies. Only a few years ago, policymakers had little inclination to regulate AI. Now, as the consequences of not doing so grow increasingly tangible, a small contingent in Congress is advancing a broader strategy to rein the technology in.