This bill mandates a comprehensive study and a joint federal action plan to assess and improve the safety, marketing, and ethical standards of AI-enabled toys for children.
Tammy Duckworth
Senator
IL
The Children's Artificial Intelligence Toy Safety Act of 2026 mandates a comprehensive study by the National Academies to evaluate the risks, educational impacts, and ethical concerns surrounding AI-enabled toys for children. Additionally, the bill requires the FTC and the Consumer Product Safety Commission to develop a joint action plan to establish safety standards, marketing regulations, and consumer protections for these products.
Children’s AI Toy Safety Act Mandates Federal Risk Study and Safety Action Plan by 2028
The Children’s Artificial Intelligence Toy Safety Act of 2026 sets a formal investigation into how AI-enabled toys—those high-tech dolls or robots that can have unscripted, two-way conversations with kids—affect the safety and development of children under 14. The bill defines these products as 'AI-enabled toys' and 'AI chatbots,' specifically targeting systems that provide open-ended responses rather than pre-programmed scripts. By directing the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to lead a comprehensive study, the legislation aims to determine if these toys pose physical or psychological risks to children at different ages.
Assessing the Digital Playroom
The study required under Section 3 will look into more than just physical safety. It specifically asks experts to evaluate how these toys impact educational outcomes when used at home and whether parents are actually using the built-in parental controls. For a parent buying a smart robot for a toddler, this means the government is looking at whether that 'educational' toy is actually helping or if the marketing is just fluff. The study will even explore the 'legal and ethical boundaries' of how these AI products are marketed to kids, including whether the risks are high enough to justify a temporary ban on sales while more permanent rules are written.
A Roadmap for Regulation
Once the research is in, the bill doesn't let it sit on a shelf. Within two years, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) must deliver a 'Joint Action Plan' to Congress. According to Section 4, this plan will include concrete recommendations for new laws, mandatory disclosure requirements so parents know exactly when a toy is using AI, and potential safety guidelines or independent reviews. For manufacturers and tech developers, this signals a shift from the 'Wild West' of smart toys to a regulated environment where safety standards could be as strictly enforced as the choking hazard labels we see on traditional toys today.