{"id":"23714960dd124a24","congress_number":119,"bill_type":"s","bill_number":"5117","title":"Senior Chatbot Protection Act of 2026","plain_summary":"This bill would create protections for older Americans interacting with AI chatbots, likely addressing deceptive, manipulative, or fraudulent conversational AI. It matters because seniors are disproportionately targeted by scams that AI chatbots can automate and personalize.","ai_relevance_score":0.9,"topics":["safety","privacy","liability"],"status":"committee","introduced_at":"2026-07-23","last_action_at":"2026-07-23","last_action_text":"Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.","sponsor_id":"K000377","full_text_url":null,"created_at":"2026-09-08T22:53:58.186Z","updated_at":"2026-09-09T02:08:29.132Z","ai_reasoning":null,"reported_at":null,"passed_house_at":null,"passed_senate_at":null,"became_law_at":null,"recorded_votes":[],"classifier":null,"url":"https://whovotedwhy.com/bills/23714960dd124a24","congress_gov_url":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/5117","sponsor":{"id":"K000377","bioguide_id":"K000377","first_name":"Mark","last_name":"Kelly","full_name":"Mark Kelly","party":"D","state":"AZ","chamber":"senate","district":null,"title":"Senator","photo_url":null,"twitter_handle":"SenMarkKelly","official_website":"https://www.kelly.senate.gov","fec_candidate_ids":["S0AZ00350"],"lis_id":"S406","is_active":true,"term_start":"2025-01-03","term_end":"2029-01-03","created_at":"2026-09-08T22:51:51.014Z","updated_at":"2026-09-09T02:08:13.531Z"},"roll_calls":[],"citing_statements":[{"id":"0b415f68d3d2005a","politician_id":"K000377","type":"press_release","content":"Last month, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly introduced the bipartisan Senior Chatbot Protection Act to establish basic protections for AI chatbot and voice assistants. The bill would keep older Americans safe by requiring AI chatbot and voice assistant companies to provide clear disclosures, safeguard sensitive conversations, and end deceptive design practices in their products.\n\nThe legislation expands on Kelly’s ongoing efforts to ensure AI works for all Americans, including seniors, following up on his Aging with AI Act, which seeks to provide a better understanding of how AI companions are used by older adults and their potential risks and benefits.\n\nSince its introduction, the Senior Chatbot Protection Act has earned support from a broad coalition of organizations representing older Americans, medical and mental health professionals, consumer safety advocates, families, and technology policy experts, including the Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA), American Medical Association (AMA), American Psychological Association Services (APA Services), National Council on Aging (NCOA), the Alliance for Secure AI, Digital Progress Institute, Institute for Family Studies (IFS), and the Consumer Federation of America (CFA).\n\nHere’swhat supporters of theSenior Chatbot ProtectionActare saying:\n\nRichard Fiesta, Executive Director, Alliance for Retired Americans(ARA): “As AI-powered chatbots and voice assistants become more common in the lives of older adults, the corporations developing these products must be held to clear standards for transparency, accountability, privacy, and consumer protection. We applaud Senator Kelly and Senator Justice’s leadership in advancing legislation that recognizes the unique risks AI chatbots can pose for older Americans because it puts meaningful protections in place.”\n\nClick here to read the ARA’s full letter of support.\n\nWillie Underwood III, MD, MSc, MPH, President, American Medical Association(AMA): “AI chatbots can help older adults access information and support, but they must be transparent, trustworthy, and designed to protect patients. The Senior Chatbot Protection Act establishes commonsense safeguards, including clear disclosure when users are interacting with AI, prohibiting false claims of professional credentials, protecting privacy, and directing people in crisis to appropriate emergency resources. The AMA applauds Sens. Kelly and Justice for their bipartisan leadership on legislation that would ensure AI serves as a tool to support physicians and patients — not a substitute for clinical expertise and human judgment.”\n\nArthur C. Evans Jr., PhD, CEO of the American Psychological Association Services(APA Services): “AI chatbots are increasingly woven into how older Americans manage their health, their finances, and their independence. People are entitled to know the risks when using these products, and they deserve extra safeguards when the conversation touches something as sensitive and consequential as a health care decision or an estate planning matter. A chatbot can offer information, but it shouldn’t be mistaken for the judgment of a licensed professional, a family member, or trusted advisor. The American Psychological Association Services applauds Senators Kelly and Justice for their bipartisan leadership in protecting older Americans and guiding the responsible development of AI technologies.”\n\nRamsey Alwin, CEO, National Council on Aging(NCOA): “Artificial intelligence can help older adults stay informed, connected, and independent as they age, but those benefits must be paired with protections. The Senior Chatbot Protection Act would ensure older adults know when they are interacting with AI, are protected from misleading practices, and receive appropriate guidance during moments of vulnerability or crisis. As AI becomes part of everyday life, we must build trust through transparency, accountability, and safeguards that put older adults first.”\n\nBrendan Steinhauser, CEO, The Alliance ","url":"https://www.kelly.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/support-rolls-in-for-kellys-bipartisan-effort-to-make-sure-ai-works-for-seniors/","published_at":"2026-08-19","ai_topics":["regulation","safety","transparency","privacy"],"ai_stance":"support","ai_summary":"Kelly touts growing support for his bipartisan Senior Chatbot Protection Act requiring AI chatbot disclosures, privacy safeguards, and bans on deceptive design to protect older Americans.","ai_processed":true,"bill_ids":["23714960dd124a24"],"ai_relevance_score":null,"bill_refs":[{"bill_id":"23714960dd124a24","method":"title"}],"classifier":null},{"id":"6dac01e025e93d72","politician_id":"K000377","type":"press_release","content":"This week, Senators Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), members of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, pressed the CEOs of nine AI companies for information about the safeguards they deploy on their AI chatbot companion products for at-risk users like older adults, people with disabilities, and individuals in crisis.\n\n“AI products may help older adults detect health problems and live independently. Generative AI may benefit people with disabilities by helping them communicate with others or operate assistive technology. Caregivers may find generative AI helpful for coordinating medical appointments or tracking the health of a loved-one,” wrote the senators. “However, to live up to this potential, generative AI companions must be safe to use, incorporating the needs of older adults, people with disabilities, and their caregivers.\n\n“People with disabilities may be particularly vulnerable to fraud facilitated by generative AI for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to reliance on caregivers, limited transportation options, limited access to sign language interpreters and assistive devices, and isolation from the community,” continued the senators. “Design processes that do not allow feedback from older adults and people with disabilities suggest that these risks may not be addressed on the front end of product development, leaving these populations vulnerable when using AI tools.”\n\nAccording to the FBI, seniors lost nearly $8 billion to scammers in 2025, with an average loss of $39,000 per person. This includes more than $350 million lost in AI-related scams. Total losses increased by 59 percent from 2024, due in part to the increasing sophistication of AI technology.\n\nCommon AI scams include phishing attacks, where fraudsters trick individuals into revealing sensitive information; voice cloning, where generative AI is used to mimic a familiar voice; and image creation scams, where generative AI is used to forge documents and identification to make fraudulent messages appear trustworthy.\n\nSpecifically, Kelly and Gillibrand asked the CEOs of OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Anthropic, Perplexity AI, X, Meta, Luka Inc., and Character Technologies Inc. to provide information on:\n\nWhat safety testing these companies perform for their AI companion products\n\nHow the company tracks adverse events/harms involving their AI products, including hospitalizations, financial losses, or deaths\n\nWhat types of safeguards are built into their AI companion products to mitigate harm and protect at-risk users like seniors\n\nHow the company includes older adults, people with disabilities, caregivers, and advocacy groups in the development of their AI products\n\nWhether their companies provide independent researchers with access to data or tools to study the effects of their AI products on seniors and people with disabilities\n\nIn June, Kelly introduced the bipartisan Aging with AI Act, which would require research about how AI tools impact older Americans. The legislation was followed up by the introduction of Kelly’s bipartisan Senior Chatbot Protection Act, a bill that would keep older Americans safe by requiring AI chatbot and voice assistant companies to provide clear disclosures, safeguard sensitive conversations, and end deceptive design practices in their products.","url":"https://www.kelly.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/kelly-gillibrand-press-ai-companies-to-strengthen-protections-for-seniors/","published_at":"2026-07-31","ai_topics":["safety","children","transparency","privacy"],"ai_stance":"support","ai_summary":"Kelly and Gillibrand demand AI companies detail safeguards for seniors and vulnerable users, backed by legislation requiring disclosures and protections.","ai_processed":true,"bill_ids":["23714960dd124a24"],"ai_relevance_score":null,"bill_refs":[{"bill_id":"23714960dd124a24","method":"title"}],"classifier":null},{"id":"7bc3fcee9c21dde9","politician_id":"K000377","type":"press_release","content":"This week, Arizona Senator and Senate Special Committee on Aging member Mark Kelly delivered remarks at a hearing on artificial intelligence-enabled fraud targeting older Americans. In this hearing that Kelly requested last year, he highlighted his recent legislation to protect seniors from AI-powered scams and deceptive chatbot practices.\n\nBefore the hearing, Kelly sent a letter along with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) to leading AI companies—including OpenAI, Meta, and X—demanding answers on how they are making their products safe for older adults. In June, Kelly introduced the bipartisan Aging with AI Act, which would research how AI tools impact older Americans. The legislation was followed up by the introduction of Kelly’s bipartisan Senior Chatbot Protection Act, a bill that would keep older Americans safe by requiring AI chatbot and voice assistant companies to provide clear disclosures, safeguard sensitive conversations, and end deceptive design practices in their products.\n\nKelly opened by laying out his vision for making AI work for all Americans: “Over the past year, I’ve been thinking a lot about how we make AI work for all Americans, not just a few big companies. And that’s what led me last year to put out a roadmap called AI for America. And the ideas behind the roadmap are pretty simple, and that is, if AI is going to transform our economy, we need to have a real plan to make sure Americans aren’t left behind and that the technology is developed and used responsibly.”\n\nKelly warned that AI is making scams more convincing and more dangerous: “About 1 in 5 Arizonans in my state are over the age of 65, and when I hear from seniors in my state, they tell me they’re concerned about what is real and what isn’t real… Seniors are seeing more convincing phishing scams and AI generated scams and other forms of online fraud, and sometimes people don’t know if they’re talking to a bot or a real person.”\n\nKelly highlighted his recently introducedSenior Chatbot Protection Act: “This bill requires companies to clearly disclose when consumers are interacting with AI and safeguard sensitive conversations and address deceptive design practices in their products that put people at risk. We want to help people make informed decisions while supporting, not replacing, human judgment and trusted relationships.”\n\nBen Winters, Director of AI and Privacy at the Consumer Federation of Americaand one of the witnesses at the hearing, said Kelly’sSenior Chatbot Protection Actwould be “absolutely a positive step forward in making sure those tech companies are pulling their weight.”\n\nSen. Kelly delivers remarks at Senate Special Committee on Aging hearing.\n\nClick here to download a video of Kelly’s opening remarks and questions. See the transcript below:\n\nSenator Kelly:\n\nAs I think all of us know, AI has a very real potential of changing everything about our lives. It’s changing how we work, how we make decisions, how entire industries are operating, reshaping our economy, energy systems, national security. It’s affecting people’s daily lives. And while it brings enormous opportunity, also introduces risk that demands some serious oversight. And that’s why we’re here today.\n\nOver the past year, I’ve been thinking a lot about how we make AI work for all Americans, not just a few big companies. And that’s what led me last year to put out a roadmap called AI for America and the ideas behind the roadmap are pretty simple, and that is, if AI is going to transform our economy, we need to have a real plan to make sure Americans aren’t left behind and that the technology is developed and used responsibly.\n\nAnd here’s the thing these systems are evolving very quickly—even just quickly in the last few weeks—and there’s a lot that we don’t know. And there’s a lot that the developers themselves don’t know about what some of these products are capable of. Older Americans need to be included in this conversation and not treated as just some afterthought","url":"https://www.kelly.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/watch-at-senate-aging-hearing-kelly-highlights-legislation-he-introduced-to-protect-seniors-from-ai-fraud/","published_at":"2026-07-31","ai_topics":["safety","deepfakes","transparency","regulation"],"ai_stance":"support","ai_summary":"Kelly promotes his Senior Chatbot Protection Act and Aging with AI Act to require disclosure and safeguards so AI is developed responsibly and seniors are protected from AI fraud.","ai_processed":true,"bill_ids":["23714960dd124a24"],"ai_relevance_score":null,"bill_refs":[{"bill_id":"23714960dd124a24","method":"title"}],"classifier":null},{"id":"5f7b11989b1a9bc1","politician_id":"J000312","type":"press_release","content":"WASHINGTON, DC – This week, Senator Jim Justice and Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) introduced the bipartisan Senior Chatbot Protection Act to enact safeguards for senior Americans using A.I. chatbots.\n\n“A.I. chatbots are an incredible tool for older Americans, but we can’t miss the opportunity to protect our seniors who rely on chatbots for support, companionship, and even important decisions during critical times. The Senior Chatbot Protection Act sets transparency standards, so our seniors know they are speaking with a chatbot and not a real person—whether in everyday conversations or when making high-stakes decisions. I applaud Senator Kelly for spearheading this important legislation that can make a real difference in the lives of our seniors,” said Senator Jim Justice.\n\n“AI is a powerful tool that can help seniors live more independently. It can help them manage their finances, keep track of medications and doctor’s appointments, and navigate everyday tasks that become more challenging with age. But seniors need to know when they’re talking to a machine, what its limits are, and how their information is being used to make sure they aren’t being scammed or put at risk,” said Senator Mark Kelly.\n\nBACKGROUND:\n\nThe Senior Chatbot Protect Act will:\n\nRequire clear AI disclosures so that users would be told when they are interacting with AI, and companies could not falsely represent that a chatbot is human or that a response came from a licensed professional.\n\nProvide added protections when a conversation involves health care, estate planning, guardianship, or a crisis so that the chatbot would provide additional warnings, direct users toward appropriate support, and make clear it is not a substitute for qualified professional advice.\n\nProtect sensitive conversations by making companies face limits on using covered conversation data for targeted advertising, profiling, sharing with third parties, or AI training without clear consent. Users would have a clear way to delete conversation history.\n\nAddress deceptive design practices by ensuring companies take steps to prevent designs that encourage excessive reliance, discourage users from seeking help from family or professionals, or pressure users to keep engaging after they try to stop.\n\nSenator Justice is on the Special Committee on Aging and is a huge advocate for protecting our seniors.\n\nRead the bill text HERE.\n\n# # #","url":"https://www.justice.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/senators-justice-kelly-introduce-bipartisan-senior-chatbot-protection-act/","published_at":"2026-07-24","ai_topics":["regulation","transparency","privacy","liability"],"ai_stance":"support","ai_summary":"Justice supports the bipartisan Senior Chatbot Protection Act to require AI chatbot disclosures, data protections, and design safeguards for seniors.","ai_processed":true,"bill_ids":["23714960dd124a24"],"ai_relevance_score":null,"bill_refs":[{"bill_id":"23714960dd124a24","method":"title"}],"classifier":null},{"id":"8b973ffbbd262d62","politician_id":"K000377","type":"press_release","content":"Watch in NBC: Sen. Mark Kelly says the U.S. government should be ‘more proactive’ about AI scams\n\nToday, Senators Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Jim Justice (R-WV) introduced the Senior Chatbot Protection Act to keep older Americans safe by requiring AI chatbot and voice assistant companies to provide clear disclosures, safeguard sensitive conversations, and end deceptive design practices in their products.\n\nThe legislation expands on Kelly’s ongoing efforts to ensure AI works for all Americans, including seniors. In June, Kelly introduced the bipartisan Aging with AI Act, which would research how AI tools impact older Americans.\n\nLast year, Kelly called on the Senate Special Committee on Aging to hold a hearing on the issue. The hearing will be held next week.\n\n“AI is a powerful tool that can help seniors live more independently. It can help them manage their finances, keep track of medications and doctor’s appointments, and navigate everyday tasks that become more challenging with age,” saidKelly. “But seniors need to know when they’re talking to a machine, what its limits are, and how their information is being used to make sure they aren’t being scammed or put at risk.”\n\n“A.I. chatbots are an incredible tool for older Americans, but we can’t miss the opportunity to protect our seniors who rely on chatbots for support, companionship, and even important decisions during critical times. The Senior Chatbot Protection Act sets transparency standards so our seniors know they are speaking with a chatbot and not a real person—whether in everyday conversations or when making high-stakes decisions. I applaud Senator Kelly for spearheading this important legislation that can make a real difference in the lives of our seniors,” said Justice.\n\nIn May, the FBI reported that Americans over 60 years old submitted more than 201,000 internet-crime complaints and reported more than $7.7 billion in losses in 2025. Reuters recently covered the story of a cognitively impaired 76-year-old New Jersey man who died while traveling to meet a woman he believed was real but was actually a Meta AI chatbot.\n\nBackground:\n\nThe Senior Chatbot Protection Act ensures that transparency and safeguards support user autonomy while strengthening—not replacing—human judgment and trusted relationships. The bill would protect older Americans by:\n\nRequiring clear AI disclosures so that users would be told when they are interacting with AI, and companies could not falsely represent that a chatbot is human or that a response came from a licensed professional.\n\nProviding added protections when a conversation involves health care, estate planning, guardianship, or a crisis so that the chatbot would provide additional warnings, direct users toward appropriate support, and make clear it is not a substitute for qualified professional advice.\n\nProtecting sensitive conversations by making companies face limits on using covered conversation data for targeted advertising, profiling, sharing with third parties, or AI training without clear consent. Users would have a clear way to delete conversation history.\n\nAddressing deceptive design practices by ensuring companies take steps to prevent designs that encourage excessive reliance, discourage users from seeking help from family or professionals, or pressure users to keep engaging after they try to stop.\n\nThe bill also directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology to develop voluntary guidance for AI chatbots interacting with older adults, covering transparency, usability, crisis response, fraud and scam prevention, and privacy.","url":"https://www.kelly.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/kelly-introduces-bipartisan-senior-chatbot-protection-act/","published_at":"2026-07-23","ai_topics":["regulation","transparency","privacy","safety","liability"],"ai_stance":"support","ai_summary":"Kelly proposes mandatory chatbot disclosures, data protections, and bans on deceptive design to protect seniors from AI-driven harm and scams.","ai_processed":true,"bill_ids":["23714960dd124a24"],"ai_relevance_score":null,"bill_refs":[{"bill_id":"23714960dd124a24","method":"title"}],"classifier":null}],"provenance":{"commit":"38624a3af16ec6b3fff9b27c7d1d9f2cb7fe9152","generated_at":"2026-09-11T15:06:57.105Z","schema_version":2,"manifest":"https://whovotedwhy.com/data/index.json"}}