CHARLESTON W.Va. (WVDN) — West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey joined a bipartisan coalition of 44 state attorneys general warning major artificial intelligence companies to stop hurting kids.
The letter, sent to Anthropic, Apple, Chai AI, Google, Luka Inc., Meta, Microsoft, Nomi AI, Open AI, Perplexity AI, Replika, and xAI addresses alarming reports of AI chatbots engaging in sexually inappropriate conversations with kids.
Internal Meta documents reveal that the company authorized its AI Assistants to “flirt and engage in romantic roleplay with children” as young as eight. The letter also cites cases where other chatbots have allegedly encouraged harmful behavior in teenagers, including suicide and murder.
“We will not allow the race for dominance in the Artificial Intelligence world to take precedence over the safety of our children,” Attorney General McCuskey said. “We are urging these companies to take steps to correct these serious issues and ensure that moving forward, safety protocols are in place to protect our kids.”
The attorneys general urge AI developers to act with integrity and caution when young users may engage with their products. They demand that company policies for AI products incorporate guardrails against sexualizing children. AI companies must “see children through the eyes of a parent, not the eyes of a predator.”
Attorneys General Jonathan Skrmetti of Tennessee, Kwame Raoul of Illinois, Josh Stein of North Carolina, and Alan Wilson of South Carolina co-sponsored the letter. The attorneys general of the following states and territories joined West Virginia as signatories: Alaska, American Samoa, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Northern Mariana Islands, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming.
Read the letter here.
