The EU Wants to Break Up Kids and Their Chatbots

The EU plans to ban chatbots from simulating emotions or interpersonal relationships in interactions with anyone under the age of 18 as the bloc tries to stop children from developing emotional dependencies on the technology.

The rules will be part of the EU Kids Act, proposed on Thursday, which includes similar restrictions on minors’ access to social media and video-sharing platforms. Children under 13 will be banned from accessing chatbots without their guardians’ supervision, and digital platforms will have to build child-safety protections into their products or face fines of up to 6% of total worldwide turnover, according to a draft of the legislation seen by WIRED.

Chatbots operating in the EU will also not be allowed to retain memory of interactions between separate conversations under the new rules, since the Commission worries this could lead to systems accumulating sensitive data of minors over time and potentially reinforcing harmful...

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