Australia advances law banning AI chatbots from fostering "emotional intimacy" with children
Australia's "digital duty of care" bill, a broad obligation on platforms to protect users from harmful content, passed the House of Representatives after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese warned about children treating AI chatbots as their "best friend." After an accepted amendment, the law would ban material or conduct that "simulates emotional intimacy and encourages or fosters a child's dependence on it in place of human relationships," alongside existing harm categories such as misogyny, terrorism and suicide. The bill now moves to the Senate, with the government hoping to pass it by the end of 2026, while the opposition has already said it will vote against it, calling it "censorship." For a business building or embedding a chatbot accessible to minors, the move shows regulators beginning to target the design of the emotional bond between a person and an AI directly, not just the content it produces.
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