Regulators, government & civil society
Reports & Guidance
Studies from regulators, government bodies, NGOs, and clinical organizations — the evidence base that shapes obligations and public expectations.
40 entries, newest first
AI Chatbots as Companions: Overview, Uses, and Considerations for Congress
A Congressional Research Service report for the 119th Congress on AI chatbots used for companionship. It separates purpose-built companion chatbots from general-purpose chatbots used for companionshi…
Talking to machines: Children's experiences with AI assistants and companions
National survey report from Australia's eSafety Commissioner on children's use of AI assistants and companions, based on 1,950 children aged 10-17 surveyed in February-March 2026. Covers prevalence a…
Youth Perspectives on Online Safety, 2025
Sixth annual installment of Thorn's youth monitoring survey on US minors' online experiences and safety behaviors, surveying 1,003 minors aged 9-17 in late 2025. This wave adds questions on AI chatbo…
Teens and Explicit Deepfakes in the Age of AI
Nationally representative survey of 1,314 US teens aged 13-17, fielded fall 2025, on exposure to and creation of AI-generated explicit sexual material. Documents widespread exposure, personal victimi…
Preliminary Report of the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI: Evidence-based assessment of opportunities, risks and impacts of AI
First report of the UN General Assembly-mandated Independent International Scientific Panel on AI, an independent body of scientists and experts from all five UN regions co-chaired by Yoshua Bengio a…
Patients are bringing AI to therapy (2026 Chatbots and Mental Health Survey)
Survey report from the American Psychological Association on licensed US psychologists' experiences of patients' AI chatbot use. Documents how often patients bring AI into therapy (self-diagnosis, tr…
PIPEDA Findings #2026-004: Commissioner-Initiated Complaint Concerning X Corp. and X.AI LLC
A commissioner-initiated federal investigation, conducted jointly with provincial privacy counterparts, into X Corp. and X.AI LLC's compliance with Canada's PIPEDA in connection with Grok's image-gen…
How AI Companies are Handling Suicide and Self-Harm Today
Drawing on a March 2026 multistakeholder workshop convening frontier AI companies, clinicians, researchers, and people with lived experience, Partnership on AI presents a taxonomy of six intervention…
When AI becomes a friend: Child rights risks, harms, and regulatory responses to AI chatbots and companions
A UNICEF policy brief examining how AI chatbots and companions bear on children's rights, comparing regulatory responses across six jurisdictions (as of May 2026) and setting out priority safeguardin…
Common Sense Media Census: AI Use by Tweens and Teens (2026)
The inaugural edition of Common Sense Media's Census: AI Use by Tweens and Teens, a nationally representative survey of 1,204 US children aged 9-17 establishing a baseline for tracking AI use over ti…
Dark Patterns in AI Chatbots: A Taxonomy to Inform Better Design
A taxonomy of 37 dark patterns in AI chatbots, organized into four high-level categories, spanning general-purpose systems (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude) and companion platforms (Replika, Character.AI). S…
Synthetic Empathy: Risks and Rights in Artificial Companionship
A consumer-organisation and law-clinic report examining the risks that AI companion chatbots pose to European consumers under current legal frameworks, based on desk research plus hands-on testing of…
The spread of AI companions and the challenges they generate
An EPRS briefing for the European Parliament surveying the rapid growth of LLM-powered companion platforms (such as Character.AI and Replika) and their social, psychological, commercial, and environm…
The Conversation Nobody Planned For: AI, Emotional Support, and the Indian Context
An exploratory safety evaluation from an Indian policy think tank of how AI systems respond to emotional distress in Indian user contexts. It combines a systematic review of over 100 studies, legal p…
IA conversationnelle et santé mentale des jeunes : résultats de l'enquête européenne (AI*me)
A survey (AI*me) commissioned by France's data-protection regulator CNIL with Groupe VYV and fielded by Ipsos BVA, covering 3,800 young people aged 11-25 across France, Germany, Sweden, and Ireland o…