Grand Divide

Floor Speech

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Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I was struck by a recent interview that former Senator Ben Sasse gave with Ross Douthat of The New York Times in which he argued that the future grand divide in human society will not be over income, class, or gender, but about how we incorporate technology into our lives.

If artificial intelligence, as many predict, is going to reduce economic scarcity in the long run, Senator Sasse argued that humanity will be left with an abundance of AI-powered services and task masters.

Some will choose to lean into this abundance. While it might result in greater efficiencies for some, it will also turbocharge the worst parts of how we use technology. Deep fakes, pornography, identity theft, placelessness, and social isolation are already rampant in our society and will only skyrocket in a world of mass-adopted generative AI.

Others will keep their eyes wide open and adopt technology more carefully, particularly when it comes to their children.

I recently introduced the AI Children's Toy Safety Act, which draws upon industry-led research about the dangers of incorporating AI chatbots in children's toys and mandates an immediate ban on the manufacturing, sale, importation, or distribution of any toy product in the United States made with an AI chatbot.

Nearly every AI service provider, such as OpenAI, Google, Perplexity AI, xAI, and Anthropic, have terms of service that state their products should not be used by unsupervised children under the age of 13. Yet these companies have been more than willing to let their product be licensed by children's toymakers anyway.

This poses serious data privacy challenges for children and risks locking them into addictive and unpredictable engagement patterns. It also risks exposing them to explicit content given that these chatbots have been trained on data generated by and for adults.

To be clear, I am as eager as any elected Republican to unleash the power of American innovation to win the AI race, cure cancer, and prevent the Chinese Communist Party from setting the standards for AI around the world. However, our approach needs to blend nations' security imperatives with a human-centric ethical framework, a framework that clearly states that more technological abundance is not always the same thing as more flourishing.

That is why I am also looking to introducing a House companion bill to Senator Josh Hawley's GUARD Act, which bans AI companies from developing romantic companion chatbots for minors and mandates that AI companies disclose their nonhuman status to all users to prevent minors from being tricked by artificial displays of empathy or affection.

As commonsense conservatives, we must be honest with Big Tech when their search to improve the bottom line invites serious ethical questions about our children's development. Honoring the Life of Carlos Olin Godby

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Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Carlos Olin Godby.

Many of us here know him as the best IT administrator Capitol Hill has ever known, but much more than that, he was a husband, father, and friend of those who knew him.

It didn't matter the issue or request. Carlos was there ready to lend a hand at a moment's notice. He was a calm and dependable problem solver, intelligent, and trustworthy. There was never a problem he couldn't fix, and if he wasn't sure right then, we knew he would figure it out. Always before he even told me, he was calling me back with a solution.

Carlos brought a special light into our offices. He didn't just fix our IT problems. He asked how we were doing. He asked about our families, and he showed that he cared personally about those he served professionally.

He spoke often about his wife, Angela, and his daughter, Adele. They were truly his pride and joy.

Carlos enjoyed spending time with friends at Mount Vernon Park, trying to perfect his lawn, listening to all kinds of music, creating delicious dishes with New Mexico green chile, and rooting for the New Mexico State Aggies and the Dallas Cowboys.

Our thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones now, especially Angela and Adele. I believe Carlos is watching over them now and is still cheering them on. He is proud of everything they are doing.

Carlos served on the Hill for over 30 years. It is impossible to accurately describe the kind of person he was in just a short speech. I speak on behalf of my staff, myself, and countless others who were fortunate enough to cross paths with him. His impact and generous spirit will outlive him, and we will miss him dearly.

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