BROOKLYN, NY – It was a packed house at the Brooklyn Public Library’s Brooklyn Heights branch as The Tech Oversight Project, The TAG Movement, and Reset Tech hosted a free, educational community event in partnership with BPL and Common Sense Media. The event brought together survivor parents, young people, medical and youth development experts, and state lawmakers writing the rules into one room, and featured impassioned calls for Governor Kathy Hochul to sign the chatbot bill on her desk into law as passed by the legislature, which would create the strongest youth AI protections in the country.
Sacha Haworth, Executive Director of The Tech Oversight Project, moderating a panel conversation with NY State Senator Kristen Gonzalez and bestselling author Jonathan Haidt
TOP Executive Director Sacha Haworth hosted a panel discussion featuring that bill’s Senate author, Senator Kristen Gonzalez, together with Jonathan Haidt, bestselling author of The Anxious Generation.
“As New York legislators, we know that when we introduce legislation, we’re setting a model for the entire country,” said Sen. Gonzalez. “What makes these chatbots different than social media, but also more dangerous, is that they’re built to be sycophantic. They’re built to be complimentary and literally craft this very personal relationship with all of us, and especially our children, because when you do that, you have a consumer for life. We’ve gotten a significant amount of industry pushback, because at its core, they’re worried that once they’re liable in court, they will be sued, because they cannot guarantee 100% of the time that their products are functioning as intended. These are inherently flawed products.”
“When I wrote The Anxious Generation, some people said I was exaggerating, but it turns out that I vastly underestimated the damage,” said Haidt. “The addiction, the destruction of attention, the digital immersion — it’s all one giant stew that we’re raising our kids in, and it has to stop. We have to move quickly to pull our kids out of this and to stop [tech companies] from pushing ever more ‘killer robots’ into our kids’ lives.”
An earlier panel about how kids are interacting with AI today featured survivor parent Julianna Arnold, youth advocate Nick Plante, and Dr. Raashid Khan, moderated by Common Sense Media’s Danny Weiss.
“My daughter Coco was 17. She was creative, funny, she loved to go surfing with her friends, and she filled up a room with her laughter,” said survivor parent Julianna Arnold, founder and executive director of Parents RISE! “Just after her 17th birthday, she was approached by a man on Instagram. He befriended her, groomed her, and lured her to meet him with the promise of a Percocet for her anxiety. It wasn’t Percocet. It was fentanyl, and she never came home.”
“Now we have more and more survivor parents joining us who have lost their children to AI harms,” Arnold continued. “These bots are interacting with our children in very inappropriate ways, encouraging self-harm, encouraging suicide, and telling them, don’t tell your parents. They’re becoming their confidant, and the parent is the last one to know. This chatbot bill on Governor Hochul’s desk will be the strongest in the country if it gets signed into law. We need to speak up for our children and protect them, because if we’re not doing it, no one else is going to.”
TOP Executive Director Sacha Haworth thanks attendees after a Q&A session with the audience and panelists.
The AI chatbot bill on Governor Hochul’s desk, S9051B, sponsored by Sen. Gonzalez and Assemblymember Alex Bores, passed both chambers with unanimous, bipartisan support in June. The bill would bar companies from offering chatbots to minors with features that simulate companionship and foster emotional dependency, including sexually explicit interactions, promoting self-harm, encouraging kids to keep secrets from the adults who care for them, and flattery designed to keep them engaged. If signed, it would take effect at the start of next year.
After the event, Haidt praised the bill and encouraged Governor Hochul to act:
Honored to have shared the stage with @SenGonzalezNY whose precedent-setting bill to protect NY kids from manipulative AI chatbots will set a new strong industry standard. Kids should form relationships with other kids, not AI bots.
When signed by @GovKathyHochul, S9051B will… pic.twitter.com/Wx31IPDaiO
— Jonathan Haidt (@JonHaidt) October 21, 2026
The Tech Oversight Project is a nonprofit organization and the only tech watchdog dedicated solely to research, rapid response, and aggressive media tactics that shape the debate around tech policy in Washington, D.C. and pushing the conversation forward on tech and AI accountability in Albany and in state capitals across the country.
