Asked if age verification might be a tool the state could use with other online offerings it believes are harmful to minors, AG Senior Counsel Wil Schroeder pointed to a recent case in Florida. It involved a 14-year-old boy who died by suicide after what his mother described as a monthslong virtual emotional and sexual relationship with a chatbot.
Schroeder told an artificial intelligence task force Tuesday it's an area lawmakers might examine.
16,441 Kentuckians took advantage of in-person excused absentee voting last week - 9,739 Republicans, 5,690 Democrats and 1,012 Others. This is a *114%* increase over the same period in 2022.
— Michael Adams, KY Secretary of State (@KYSecState) October 28, 2024
"It's something that two months ago I would have scratched my head and not known what you were even talking about, especially to think that minors might be interested in that. But again, as tragically seen in Florida, it is a real thing thing, and so I do think that's a policy area that that you could consider." the former state senator said.
In the Florida case, the teen's mother has filed a lawsuit against the artificial intelligence company Character.AI and Google, claiming that the Character.AI chatbot encouraged her son to take his own life.
The AI task force has been meeting regularly during the legislative interim to hear from a array of experts and other stakeholders about artificial intelligence, its use in government operations, potential benefits and the risks it poses.
The goal is to collect enough information to shape new AI policy proposals in 2025
If you or anyone you know is in a mental health crisis. Call the 988 crisis hotline.
