Age assurance and wellbeing safeguards
Protecting minors and vulnerable users in personal AI relationships.
capabilityEmerging Open on the map →
Facts
- Lane
- Trust and governance
- Wave
- 4 of 12 (build order, not a date)
- Needs
- 0 boxes all the way back through hard links
- Unlocks
- 0 boxes downstream through hard links
- Leverage
- None
- Cluster
- Assistants and the public
Evidence as of October 2026
Character.AI moved to bar under-18s from open-ended chat after lawsuits over harm to teenagers.
Detail boxes 1
Chatbot mental-health harms
Harm to vulnerable users from chatbots, which is driving new safeguards and laws.
California’s SB 243 has applied since January 2026. Tennessee made training AI to encourage suicide a felony from 1 July 2026.
Around it
Needs · 0
Nothing beyond the detail list. It can start at any time.
Unlocks · 1
Loops and off-ramps
Openings researchers' judgement, October 2026 scouting
Startup room 52/100 · rank 29 of 124 Research room 35/100 · rank 104 of 124
- Depth
- light
- Players
- Persona; Yoti; GUARD Act; Colorado HB 26-1263; UK Online Safety Act
- Wedge
- Wellbeing evaluations measuring dependency and psychological harm from companion AI (about 2 on crowding). startup