Sen. Rick Scott will introduce the Safeguard Kids Act to limit children’s use of AI as a substitute for mental-health care and to expand school education about AI risks and safe use.
The bill, titled the Safeguard Kids Act, is slated for introduction on Tuesday and aims to put guardrails around how students interact with artificial intelligence. It would direct resources toward teaching young people about AI’s limits while giving schools a new tool to address harm that can arise from treating chatbots like therapists. The proposal frames this as both an educational challenge and a student-safety priority.
At the center of the measure is a change to Student Support and Academic Enrichment (SSAE) grants that would allow those funds to cover counseling tied to AI-related harms. That includes help for students who sought emotional support from chatbots and suffered negative outcomes, alongside broader classroom programs about navigating AI responsibly. Lawmakers backing the bill argue schools should be able to respond when technology creates confusion or psychological strain.
Senator Rick Scott of Florida explained the intent behind the bill in clear terms. “Artificial Intelligence has the potential to be the greatest information innovation since the printing press, but technology is only as good as our ability to use it well and for the right reasons. We cannot let AI be the wild west and hope our kids figure it out; that doesn’t work,” the Florida Republican said in a statement on Tuesday. That statement underscores the legislative push to pair innovation with practical safeguards.
The proposal also emphasizes education about the risks of AI, not just its benefits, so students learn both how to use tools and how to spot dangers. “It’s on us to guide them as they grow. We need to teach kids about the risks associated with AI, so they can be the kind of principled innovators, leaders, and job creators America’s future economy needs,” he added. Supporters say teaching digital literacy and ethical use will help prepare tomorrow’s workforce while protecting young people now.
Research cited by the senator’s office points to ethical limitations when chatbots are used for mental-health purposes, drawing attention to work from Brown University on AI and mental health ethics. Those findings feed the argument that automated systems are not substitutes for trained professionals, especially when vulnerable teens are involved. Policymakers plan to lean on academic studies to make the case for targeted school interventions.
Polling and survey data have already highlighted the scale of the issue among teenagers. A recent Pew Research Center survey found that 12 percent of teenagers have used chatbots for “emotional support or advice,” a nontrivial share of young people turning to software for intimate issues. That statistic has prompted lawmakers to consider what role schools, parents, and regulators should play when technology becomes a default confidant for minors.
The Safeguard Kids Act is arriving amid a broader legislative scramble to address kids and the internet, with parallel proposals circulating in Congress. Other measures, such as the Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act and the Kids Online Safety Act, have already been part of the conversation and in some cases advanced through House or committee votes. These competing bills reflect a cross-aisle interest in rethinking how federal policy protects children online.
Proponents frame the new proposal as a commonsense update that pairs education with practical support, not as a ban on technology. The push is to ensure schools can use existing federal dollars to respond when AI use crosses into harmful territory and to make AI literacy a routine part of schooling. For backers, it is about shaping how the next generation inherits powerful tools and preventing avoidable harms along the way.
