The Pennsylvania House voted 133-70 on Monday, Sept. 28, to pass House Bill 2006, which would require companies that run AI chatbots to verify users’ ages, get a parent’s consent before a minor can use one, and build in safeguards around suicide, violence and sexual content. The bill now goes to the state Senate.
Rep. Carl Walker Metzgar, the Republican who represents Confluence and the rest of the 69th District, voted no. So did the two Fayette County Republicans who represent the other side of the Yough, Rep. Charity Krupa of the 51st District and Rep. Ryan Warner of the 52nd. All 103 House Democrats and 30 Republicans voted yes.
The bill is aimed at companion chatbots, the apps built to hold ongoing, personal conversations. According to the sponsor’s summary, operators would have to stop a chatbot from encouraging or assisting suicide or violence, block conversations designed to pull a child away from parents and other trusted adults, prohibit the creation of child sexual abuse material, and take reasonable steps to keep sexual content away from minors. Users would get periodic reminders that they are talking to a machine, not a person. Information collected to check a user’s age could be kept for no more than 24 hours.
The state attorney general would enforce it, with civil penalties of up to $100,000 per day for each violation.
The sponsor, Rep. Melissa Shusterman, a Chester County Democrat, said the potential of AI is undeniable but that far too many children and adults are forming unhealthy emotional attachments to chatbots and having frightening conversations with them. Gov. Josh Shapiro, who called for chatbot protections in his budget address, cheered the vote on social media, saying 30 percent of teens nationwide report using an AI chatbot every day, and urged the Senate to send the bill to his desk.
Not everyone is convinced the bill is ready. Rep. Jason Ortitay of Washington County, the ranking Republican on the House Communications and Technology Committee, told The Center Square the bill would require companies to “collect more information on everyone,” children included, because age checks apply to every user, not just minors. He called the bill “an important start” but said lawmakers should “get it right before it becomes law.”
We could not find a public statement from Metzgar explaining his vote. Readers who want to ask him can reach his Somerset district office at 814-443-4230.
Kids in the Turkeyfoot Valley carry the same phones and apps as kids anywhere else, so this one lands close to home whichever way it goes. The Senate is next, and Sen. Pat Stefano represents us there.