Growing up in the online world: government response (July 2026)

Key Findings

• — The response states the UK will become the first country to ban sexualised AI chatbots for under-18s, following a consultation with more than 116,000 respondents.
• — Chatbots will have to introduce regular breaks for users under 18; the government will work with regulators to act on chatbots that share harmful mental-health advice and will consider all options including banning children from certain chatbots.
• — In the consultation, 59% of young people aged 16 to 21 wanted restrictions on chatbots that encourage longer conversations, and parents and children raised concern about chatbot features that could foster emotional dependency.
• — Respondents identified infinite scrolling, streaks (71%), personalised recommendations (62%) and autoplay (59%) as persuasive design features in the full consultation (n = 21,554) and children's consultation (n = 5,112).
• — A companion progress statement (June 2026) carried a chapter on harmful AI chatbots, and the response commits to laying the first regulations by the end of 2026.

Methodology Notes

Policy document responding to a national consultation run 2 March to 26 May 2026 (full consultation, parents' and children's consultations, and representative polling); figures quoted are the government's own tabulations of consultation responses, which are self-selected. Published 2026-07-15 per the gov.uk content API change history ('Updated with the final government response'), with an HTML version added 2026-08-07 and Welsh translations 2026-08-19; Command Paper CP 1643. Verified through the gov.uk content API and the HTML body on 2026-09-15. The sibling evidence report on children's wellbeing online (also 2026-07-15) is held separately.

Sources