July 29, 2026
Ms. Duckworth (for herself and Ms. Murkowski) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
To require a study of AI-enabled toys and development of a joint action plan regarding the marketing and sale of AI-enabled toys.
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Children's Artificial Intelligence Toy Safety Act of 2026
.
Sec. 2. Definitions
In this Act:
(1) AI-enabled toy
The term AI-enabled toy means any toy equipped with artificial intelligence designed to engage in two-way interaction with a user.
(2) Artificial intelligence
The term artificial intelligence has the meaning given such term in section 5002 of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020 (15 U.S.C. 9401).
(3) Artificial intelligence chatbot
The term artificial intelligence chatbot means artificial intelligence that, in an open-ended natural-language or multimodal manner—
(A)
accepts user input;
(B)
engages in interactive conversations with a user; and
(C)
provides outputs that are not—
(i)
pre-determined or scripted; or
(ii)
limited to contextualized replies or to a narrow, specified purpose, such as—
(I)
customer service;
(II)
any operational purpose of a business;
(III)
productivity and analysis related to source information;
(IV)
internal research; or
(V)
technical assistance.
(4) Child
The term child means an individual under 14 years of age.
(5) Developer
The term developer means any person who designs, creates, programs, maintains, or assumes responsibility for artificial intelligence intended for use by consumers.
(6) Manufacturer
The term manufacturer has the meaning given such term in section 3 of the Consumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2052).
(7) Toy
The term toy has the meaning given the term children's toy in section 108(g)(1) of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (15 U.S.C. 2057c(g)(1)).
Sec. 3. Study
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine shall conduct a study regarding AI-enabled toys that assesses—
(1)
the risk of injury (including physical, mental, emotional, and social injury) to children in different stages of development from AI-enabled toys and artificial intelligence chatbots;
(2)
educational outcomes resulting from using AI-enabled toys outside of an educational setting;
(3)
the adoption and utilization of parental controls on AI-enabled toys by consumers;
(4)
the legal and ethical boundaries of marketing artificial intelligence chatbots and AI-enabled toys to children;
(5)
whether any evidence relating to the potential risks to children posed by AI-enabled toys warrants temporarily suspending the marketing and sale of such toys to children;
(6)
actions that Congress, Federal agencies, developers, and manufacturers can take to protect children from any risks and harms associated with AI-enabled toys; and
(7)
any other issue regarding AI-enabled toys the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine determines to be appropriate.
Sec. 4. Joint action plan
Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Product Safety Commission shall submit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate, the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate, the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives, and the Committee on Education and Workforce of the House of Representatives a joint action plan to improve the safety of AI-enabled toys, which shall contain—
(1)
recommendations regarding—
(A)
legislation or administrative action;
(B)
any requirements for disclosing to consumers when artificial intelligence has been integrated into a toy; and
(C)
regulations regarding voluntary or enforceable marketing standards, voluntary or enforceable safety guidelines, periodic independent review of AI-enabled toys, or permanent or temporary prohibitions on the sale of AI-enabled toys for the purpose of protecting public health or safety; and
(2)
a description of any consumer and public education initiatives regarding AI-enabled toys that the Federal Trade Commission and Consumer Product Safety Commission plan to undertake.