Survivor Parents to Congressional Leaders: Don't Bring Back the AI Moratorium

The Honorable Chuck Schumer

Senate Minority Leader

322 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20510

The Honorable Hakeem Jeffries

House Minority Leader

2433 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable John Thune

Senate Majority Leader

511 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Mike Johnson

Speaker of the House

568 Cannon House Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

Dear Majority Leader Thune, Minority Leader Schumer, Speaker Johnson, and Minority Leader Jeffries: 

We write as a coalition of organizations that strongly opposed the AI moratorium in the budget reconciliation bill and remain dedicated to preserving the rights of the states to act in the best of interests of children, families, and the public interest in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). After widespread, bipartisan public outcry from  45 state attorneys general, a bi-partisan group of 260 state legislators,  4 in 5 of Americans (including 60,000+ petition signatures), 17 Republican governors, hundreds of civil society organizations, and members of Congress crossing the entire political spectrum, the proposed 10-year AI state law enforcement moratorium was removed.  

We are deeply concerned by ongoing efforts to revive the moratorium via legislation or the administration’s forthcoming AI Action Plan. We urge congressional leadership to support families in this evolving AI landscape and ensure they can continue to rely on the efforts of State Attorneys General to enforce AI safety protections. 

The AI revolution requires the attention of lawmakers at all levels of government to ensure kids and teens are protected from harm — both today and in the future. That obligation to safety requires preserving the fundamental right of states to respond to risks swiftly and to continue their efforts to establish a wide range of consumer protection laws. In a 99-1 vote, the Senate voted overwhelmingly to respect the rights of states and the needs of children and families. That was the right choice; Congress must not backtrack now. 

Throughout the decades-long rise of the technology sector, Congress has struggled to keep pace, even as social media inflicts irreparable harm in pursuit of profit and AI becomes embedded in nearly every aspect of life. Policymakers at all levels have both the responsibility and opportunity to ensure safe innovation of new technology. And while Congress has been slow to respond to emerging harms, in contrast, states have stepped up to pass laws, not to block innovation, but to safeguard kids online and defend the fundamental rights of their residents. 

Given the known risks of this fast-developing and still emerging technology and the critical role states have played in addressing them, we oppose any effort to impose a moratorium on state AI laws. AI safety starts with measures to ensure the safe development of AI systems and products, requiring vigilance on the part of all policymakers to protect kids from manipulative AI chatbot companions, online algorithmic feeds that prey on teens’ insecurities and amplify harmful content, and ‘nudification’ tools profiting from the gross invasions of children’s privacy to create deepfake nude images. 

AI safety means:

• Risk-based audits and transparency measures to develop AI systems that are safe by design and ensure that implemented safeguards are effective. 

• Pre- and post-deployment testing to ensure AI models function safely before they reach the public and continue to be monitored after deployment, a standard approach in sectors like pharmaceuticals and automotive safety, where ongoing evaluation is critical to protecting consumers.

• Strong privacy laws updated to expand kids’ and families’ control over what they say or share with AI systems – ensuring their data, likeness, and original content aren’t used without consent.

• Safety by design principles to ensure AI products used by kids – social media, AI companions, and AI tutors – are created with kids’ well-being in mind, effective, and purpose-built. 

• Safeguards for automated decision-making systems, including the right to an explanation when consequential decisions are made by AI and guaranteed access to a human review process, especially in sensitive areas like education, healthcare, and employment.

• Liability frameworks that ensure developers and deployers of high-risk AI tools can be held accountable – not just users employing AI for harm – when their systems cause harm or violate consumer protection laws.

• Whistleblower protections to empower those inside companies to speak up before harm reaches the public.

All laws furthering the safe development and deployment of AI, including civil, criminal, preventative, and responsive, are necessary to respond to the existing and emergent harms supercharged by AI. Instituting a moratorium on existing and potential state AI laws would undermine the layered, proactive approach we need to keep kids safe in the AI era. 

Building AI with ethics and responsibility by design is essential to earning the public trust that is key to broad adoption and continued innovation. Smart regulations steer AI development in ways that benefit the public interest, national security, and global competitiveness — not solely for profit. Federal action to protect kids, families, and all consumers is welcome, and we are ready to work with you on meaningful solutions – but it must not come at the expense of states' constitutional authority to protect their residents. 

Sincerely,

Common Sense Media
Encode AI
National Center on Sexual Exploitation
Young People’s Alliance
Fairplay
ParentsSOS

Co-signed by: 3Strands Global Foundation, 35 Mile Foundation, Access Now, Accountable Tech; AI for Education; All4Ed; All Girls Allowed; Alliance to Counter Crime Online; Alliance to End Human Trafficking; American Association for Justice; American Federation of Teachers; ANEW Life International, Inc.; Annalee’s Hope-Protect Kids Online; Awaken; Aylstock, Witkin, Kreis & Overholtz, PLLC; Beauty from Ashes Ministry; Becca Schmill Foundation; Breaking Generational Cycles; Buckets Over Bullying; C.A. Goldberg PLLC; Carol L. Hepburn PS; Center for AI and Digital Policy; Center for Digital Democracy; Center for Humane Technology; Center for Youth and AI; Chains Interrupted; Children's Advocacy Institute, University San Diego School of Law; Communications Workers of America; Community Campaign Against Human Trafficking - SouthShore; Consortium for School Networking; Consumer Federation of America; Council of Catholic Women; Courage California; David’s Legacy Foundation; Dear Christian Parent Substack; Defend Young Minds; Design It For Us; Devin J. Norring Foundation; Digital Childhood Alliance; Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund; Economic Security Project Action; Edith’s House; EdTech Law Center; EdTrust; Emily Harrison Consulting; Emmy’s Champions; Englyn Roberts Foundation ‘Can We Talk’; Enough Is Enough; Equality Now; Erik's Cause; Esperanza Events & Consulting; Four Norms; Future of Music Coalition; Gary Marcus, Author of Marcus on AI; Grace McComas Memorial; Guided Purposes LLC; Hach Rose Schirripa & Cheverie LLP; Heads Up Phones Down; Heat Initiative; https://socialmediaharms.org; Hummingbody; Impact4Scale; InnovateEDU; Issue One; Joint Family; Justice Defense Fund; Justice Restoration Center; KIDS TOO; Liberty Law, Inc.; Love Like Mason; Love Never Fails Us; Lynn's Warriors; MAMA: Mothers Against Media Addiction; Matthew E. Minor Awareness Foundation; Mentari; Mōhuman; Music Artists Coalition; National Consumers League; National Digital Inclusion Alliance; NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice; New America's Open Technology Institute; New Jersey Coalition Against Human Trafficking; North Carolina Stop Human Trafficking; No Trafficking Zone; NTEN; Nurses United Against Human Trafficking; Oakland Privacy; Oregon Consumer League; P Street; Paradigm Shift Training and Consulting; Parent Coalition for Student Privacy; ParentsTogether Action; Parents Who Fight; Paving the Way Foundation; Pointer Adventures; Pornography Is Not Education; Project STAND; Protect Children, Suojellaan Lapsia ry; Public Citizen; Raven; Reading Public Library; Reconnect Nashoba Valley; Representative Doug Fiefia, Utah House of Representatives; Representative Monique Priestley, Vermont General Assembly; Rescuing Hope; Resiliency Foundation; Rights4Girls; Saniah’s Story; SAVE-Suicide Awareness Voices of Education; Schools Beyond Screens; Scrolling 2 Death; Selah Freedom; Seventh Planet, Inc.; Sexual Violence Prevention Association; Shared Hope International; Shield North Carolina; Skull Games Solutions; Smartphone Free Childhood US; Social Media Victims’ Law Center; Speaking of Social; Students Engaged (SEAT); Surcando La Historia, Inc.; Survivor Leader Network of San Diego; Tech Justice Law Project; The Haba Law Firm, P.A.; The McKenna Way; The O’Connell House, Inc.; The Stop Trafficking Project; The Tech Oversight Project; Thriving in Freedom; TJP Advocacy; Transparency Coalition; Turning Life On; Unite for Safe Social Media; United Abolitionists, Inc.; Victims2Survivors-US; Victoria Galy, Advocate and Survivor; Walk Her Home; Watchmen Action; We RISE, USA; Wealth Management Ministries-Prevention Works Joint Task Force and Coalition; William E. Morris Institute for Justice; World Without Exploitation; Yellowstone Human Trafficking Task Force; and You Belong, LLC.