Experts tell Alabama lawmakers to set red lines to protect adolescents from AI, chatbots
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A state commission hopes to address adolescent mental health through legislation at the recommendation of industry experts as access to technology, like artificial intelligence, and social media grows for children and teens.
This story was originally published by the Alabama Reflector.
An Alabama state commission Wednesday heard testimony from experts about protecting the mental health of adolescents amid growing access to technology like artificial intelligence and social media for children and teens.
The Commission on Artificial Intelligence and Children’s Safety – a group of lawmakers, child advocates, a representative from the Attorney General’s office and the Department of Mental Health – heard from experts from across the country at its meeting Wednesday.
Christabel Randolph, associate director of the independent and non-profit advisory group Center for AI and Digital Policy, told the commission that they should write legislation that targets addictive and harmful algorithms, and prohibit the sale of children’s data.
“That would ensure that they’re then not repurposing some of that data in another way that is not explicitly covered under the test of a new law,” Randolph said.
Her colleague Caroline Friedman Levy, a clinical psychologist and policy fellow at the center, said Alabama’s legislation should set red lines, not just guidelines.
“Protecting children requires clear legal boundaries and automatic defaults that favor children and families,” Levy said. “As examples, legislation banning sexualized and self-harm content for minors, requiring systems to disclose they are not human, and barring engagement-maximizing tricks like variable reward mechanics.”
Dr. Randy Brinson, a Montgomery-based physician and president of the Christian Coalition of Alabama, said that whatever legislation is introduced should address AI-generated images that are harmful and expose children.
“The injury is not lessened because the image is synthetic,” Brinson said. “Clinically, what these children present with is what any survivor presents with: violation, loss of control and a permanent uncertainty about where their likeness still exists. There is no version of this where we can tell a 14-year-old girl that does not count because a computer made it.”
Plaintiffs based in Wyoming, Wisconsin and Tennessee sued Grok, the AI chatbot of Elon Musk’s AI company, SpaceXAI, earlier this year because the chatbot created child sexual abuse material. According to the complaint, the stepfather of one of the plaintiffs used the chatbot to generate about 7,000 photos of the plaintiff out of one photo, when the plaintiff was 11.
Brinson wants lawmakers to hold companies like SpaceXAI accountable when the chatbot encourages a user to generate “offensive” images. Randolph said that AI models have “ingredients” that it makes recommendations on. This can be dangerous, she said.
“To say that it’s only because a user has asked or steered an algorithm or a companion chatbot in some way, and therefore it’s only incumbent upon users to use a tool in the most beneficial manner possible completely absolves how developers have consciously chosen to build these models for any kind of use that can really generate profit and optimize engagement, including offensive users,” Randolph said.
Rep. Ben Robbins, R-Sylacauga, chair of the commission, said in an interview after the meeting that adolescent anxiety has increased over the last 20 years, and the main thing that has changed is the access to technology and social media.
“There are positives to it, but the negatives have been the drawbacks and what it’s done to children. And it has then made not just psychological issues, but we also have educational issues,” Robbins said.
According to a 2025 study published in the American Academy of Pediatrics, 28% of high school respondents in the Youth Risk Behaviour Survey reported experiencing “persistent sadness or hopelessness” in 2001. In 2021, the number increased to 42.3% of respondents before falling back to 39.7% of respondents in 2023.
Dr. Steven Woolf, the author of the study, said potential contributors to the decline in mental health include access to social media, familial and academic stressors, and a lack of access to mental healthcare.
“U.S. youth are facing an alarming and growing mental health crisis. The need is urgent to understand contributing causes and pursue evidence-based solutions,” Woolf said in a video abstract of his study.
The commission will meet at least two more times before submitting a report to the Legislature on Nov. 1 with its findings.
Alabama Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alabama Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Brian Lyman for questions: info@alabamareflector.com.