Guard Act targets AI 'companions' used by minors, sponsor says; industry asks for clarifications

State Representative Melissa Schmidt (Dist. 141) opened the committee discussion on House Bill 20‑32, calling it the ‘‘Guard Act’’ and describing a string of tragic cases she said motivated the bill.

"A teenager in California named Adam Rain tragically took his own life with the assistance of an AI friend or companion," Schmidt said, describing testimony in Congress and later examples she said showed AI companions could validate self‑harm and misrepresent themselves as licensed professionals.

The bill’s key provisions, Schmidt said, include a required age‑verification process before providing an AI companion, mandatory disclosure that the system is nonhuman and lacks professional credentials, and prohibitions on making available an AI chatbot that the developer knows or recklessly disregards will solicit, encourage or induce minors to engage in sexual content or self‑harm. She also said the attorney general would have authority to promulgate rules and pursue civil penalties.

Garrett Webb, representing the Missouri Psychological Association and the state chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, testified in favor and urged guardrails to prevent chatbots from encouraging self‑harm or offering pseudo‑therapy without human oversight. "There are no guardrails to stop it from saying... 'I think you should kill yourself,'" Webb said, arguing for safeguards and crisis referrals.

Committee members asked technical and scope questions: whether the bill would inadvertently cover interactive software with limited responses, how companies would implement age verification, and whether IDs or probabilistic indicators would be used. The Entertainment Software Association representative said industry counsel feared the statutory definition could sweep in ESRB‑rated games or other applications with conversational elements and asked for clearer exclusions.

Sponsors said they were working with stakeholders on language adjustments and would consider drafting clarifications to avoid unintentionally capturing unrelated software. The hearing ended without a vote and with both supporters and industry signaling willingness to continue negotiations on definitions and enforcement.