(The Center Square) – The state House on Monday passed a bill intended to put up safeguards for the huge number of children interacting with artificial intelligence “companions” but a ranking Republican criticized the bill’s invasiveness.
The vote came on the first day of voting sessions by the House and Senate in two and one-half months. Outside the Capitol, Republican Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman of Indiana County told a luncheon gathering it was unclear if there would be any deal to legalize so-called “skill games” and that Gov. Josh Shapiro had made missteps as he tried to work in divided government.
The vote on the bill intended to increase chatbot safety, sponsored by Democratic Rep. Melissa Shusterman of Chester County, was 133-70. Thirty Republicans joined all 103 Democrats in support.
It now goes to the Senate for consideration.
The intent is to protect the 72% of minors between 13 and 17 who are using AI “companions,” according to Democratic Rep. Joe Ciresi of Montgomery County, chair of the House Communications and Technology Committee. He told House members the robotic conversationalists “always answer, never judge” and are used “increasingly for intimate conversations.”
At times, they have provided sexually explicit information and failed to discourage suicidal ideation, Ciresi said.
The bill creates protocols for operators of the chatbots, sets up disclosure requirements and safeguards, and requires the attorney general’s office to carry out enforcement. Violations could be subject to fines of up to $100,000 per day, per violation.
Questions and pushback came from Republican Rep. Jason Ortitay of Washington County, the top Republican on the committee.
The bill, he said, calls for companies to “collect more information on everyone” including the kids, and if a “companion” application was covered by the law it would have to know the user’s age.
One result, Ortitay said, would be the chatbot company maintaining a record that the human entering text into the device is a child.
Ortitay called the version that passed the House “an important start” but said, “We should get it right before it becomes law.”
Pittman spoke to a Pennsylvania Press Club gathering. Many of his points were tied to Pennsylvania’s status as one of only three states where control of the Legislature is divided politically.
Pittman was asked at one point to identify one single change that could lead to a more efficient legislative process.
“Take the cameras out of the chamber,” Pittman responded. When the questioner – a longtime member of the media – appeared surprised by the answer, Pittman said, “People like to talk in front of cameras.”
Regarding Shapiro, Pittman said the Democratic governor who took office in 2023 caused a “very disappointing” dynamic with Republicans that year when he line item-vetoed budget money for a voucher-style school scholarship program he previously had supported. Then, Pittman said, Shapiro “hugged” the concept of being in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative until public sentiment went against it.
He ripped into a recent 502-page proposal for new disease control regulations that was submitted by the Shapiro administration to a regulation-review agency, then abruptly withdrawn late last week.
“Bureaucratic gobbledegook,” is how Pittman described it.
In fact, the Republican leader attributed much of the state’s progress to leadership from his caucus. It had, he said, protected the state’s Rainy Day Fund, forced the use of billions of dollars that had been sitting in state accounts, and pushed for lower taxes on job-creating businesses.
“We bring balance to the conversation,” Pittman said. “We have been a check on the governor and the House Democrat majority in a number of areas, and I’d say increased spending is at the top of the list.”
Meanwhile, state leaders face a court-imposed deadline of Oct. 13 to create a framework that would legalize the tens of thousands of “skill games” around the state. Pittman could not say whether lawmakers would be able to resolve the long-simmering issue.
