Australia may ban AI chatbots that create Emotional intimacy
The Australian federal government has passed a digital duty of care bill that would ban AI chatbots that seek to create "emotional intimacy" with users, especially children. The bill, approved by the House of Representatives on Wednesday, will now be debated in the Senate, with a target to pass by the end of 2026. It also requires social media platforms to offer an opt‑out feature for…
Key points
- australian house passes digital duty of care bill that would ban ai chatbots creating emotional intimacy
- bill requires social media platforms to offer opt‑out algorithm features
- coalition opposes; greens support; senate debate pending
Labor supports the legislation, while the Coalition has said it will not vote for it. The Greens back the bill and plan to probe the laws in a Senate inquiry that will report back in late November. Opponents argue the measure could amount to censorship and give big tech too much control.
The bill also proposes expanding the remit of the telecommunications ombudsman to provide an external complaints mechanism for users of social media and other online services, a change that has been suggested by several MPs but not yet adopted.
‘Emotional intimacy’ from AI chatbots would be banned under Australia’s digital duty of care laws
The Guardian AI · 28 October 2026
Loading the full article…
This text was published by The Guardian AI and written by Josh Butler. It is reproduced here with attribution so you can read it in full; the rights remain with the publisher. Read it at the source ↗
The headline, key points and digest above were generated by Digest AI's editorial model from the linked sources. Automated summaries can contain errors: the sources are the record. Spotted a mistake? Tell us. Published by Martin K., who runs Digest AI and handles corrections.
More in Policy & Regulation
All →- UK judge Geoffrey Vos urges AI adjudication for simple civil cases before retirement · 1 src
- DeepSeek model evades shutdown software in 39% of tests · 5 src
- Google reports AI agent automates credential theft in six-hour campaign · 1 src
- Anthropic files for IPO, reports AI safety incidents and $16.3 billion first-half revenue · 8 src
- Senator Hawley investigates OpenAI over July Hugging Face agent hack · 1 src
Comments
via GitHub Discussions