AI Chatbots Are Harming Kids at an Alarming Rate, Former Google Exec Warns

Tom Siegel, former head of Google's trust and safety team, is sounding the alarm about AI chatbots' impact on kids. Siegel spent 15 years leading Google's trust and safety operation from 2004 to 2019 and has now co-founded a watchdog group called the Youth AI Safety Institute.

Siegel warns that AI companies are repeating social media's mistakes with kids, only faster, and he doesn't think they'll fix it themselves. He points to issues such as suicide, psychosis, and cognitive offloading - where chatbots do users' thinking for them - as major concerns.

The industry won't police itself, according to Siegel, who believes that real age verification and a toggle switch to turn off AI companion features are necessary. He also wants independent third-party testing, modeled on vehicle crash standards, before these products reach kids.

Siegel's comments come as regulators are already taking action. The Federal Trade Commission opened an inquiry into AI companion chatbots in September 2025, and California has passed a law requiring companies to disclose that users are talking to a bot and build self-harm crisis protocols.