AI bill of rights legislation clears its first Senate committee stop

A Senate committee advanced a bill to create an artificial intelligence bill of rights aiming to protect consumers and minors.

With unanimous bipartisan support, the Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee backed Sen. Tom Leek’s bill (SB 482).

“Quite simply, we get a 60-day Session once a year. If we don’t act and Congress doesn’t act, those protections won’t exist for Florida’s children and vulnerable adults,” Leek, a Port Orange Republican, told lawmakers before the 10-0 vote Wednesday. “So I believe we have to act.”

Wednesday’s vote was the bill’s first committee stop to support Gov. Ron DeSantis’ agenda as the measure heads next to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

DeSantis has increasingly been calling for more regulation to protect young people from the dangers of AI technology. But President Donald Trump has also been critical of states passing AI reforms and signed an executive order in December aimed at restricting states from overregulating the technology.

Leek argued that his bill doesn’t defy Trump’s order.

“I think the protections that we’ve got here for minors and for vulnerable adults, and for all of us really, are in line with what President Trump wants,” Leek said during Wednesday’s hearing.

Leek argued Trump was striking back against “onerous restrictions,” while his bill was specifically focused on consumer protections.

“It is purposely and deliberately targeted at those protections and not … the universe of things that could be done,” Leek said.

Under Leek’s bill, chatbot platforms would be required to post pop-up warnings that a person is talking to AI. The message would appear at the start of the conversation and reappear at least every hour.

Children would not be allowed to communicate with chatbots without parental permission. Parents would have control to see their child’s communications with the chatbot and could also limit access or delete the child’s account.

The bill would also require minors to be reminded to “take a break” at least once every hour.

Chatbot platform operators that violate the proposed new rules could face civil fines up to $50,000 per violation.

The AI bill of rights legislation comes after a 14-year-old Orlando boy killed himself in 2024 after he had been chatting with an AI bot extensively. Some of the conversations turned sexual and romantic. The family later sued in a case that got national coverage by The New York Times.

“Artificial intelligence, holding a great deal of promise, also poses novel and unique threats. Generative AI in particular can be particularly insidious in some contexts when used by children or unsuspecting or vulnerable or adults,” Leek said at Wednesday’s hearing.

“Given the incredible pace of the evolution of the technology and its adoption by business and academia, it is incumbent on us to protect Floridians for some of its problematic results.”

Several advocates and Democrats praised the bill, while also arguing there was room for improvement in Leek’s legislation.

“We would like to be a part of the conversation,” said Florida AFL-CIO lobbyist Rich Templin. “This is a great consumer protection beginning, but what about workers?”

And Turner Loesel, a technology policy analyst at the James Madison Institute, warned that the bill’s language needed to be tweaked, which Leek teased is coming. Leek said he is still working with stakeholders to tighten the bill’s definitions.

“Its definition of artificial intelligence is broad enough to capture spam filters alongside companion chatbot platforms, and we look forward to the amendments on that definition,” Loesel said.

Sen. Carlos  Guillermo Smith, an Orlando Democrat, called the bill a good first step but also agreed the legislation could be beefed up.

“We need meaningful accountability in the bill. Floridians deserve more than promises. They deserve proof. That means compliance reporting and audits that show companies are actually protecting biometric data, that they’re preventing misuse, and that they’re operating transparently,” Smith said.

“I think relying solely on political actors in the Office of the Attorney General for enforcement is not enough. To stop harmful conduct, I think we need stronger civil protections, including a private cause of action for all ages to defend all of our rights that are outlined in this AI bill of rights.”