Senate Commerce Committee advances KOSA and three AI child-safety bills to the floor

The Senate Commerce Committee advanced four children’s online-safety and artificial-intelligence bills by voice vote on August 5, 2026, the committee said, sending the Kids Online Safety Act and three AI-focused measures to the Senate floor.

At the center is S.1748, the Kids Online Safety Act, in a substitute offered by Senator Marsha Blackburn. It would require platforms to default minors’ accounts to their strongest safety and privacy settings, add parental controls, and curb design features meant to maximize engagement.

The AI provisions are the newer front. The panel also advanced S.4199, the Youth AI Privacy Act; S.4407, the CHATBOT Act; and S.5171, the Children’s Artificial Intelligence Toy Safety Act of 2026, which directs a federal study of injury risks to children from AI-enabled toys.

Advancing out of committee is not passage. The bills still need floor time in a crowded calendar, and a fifth measure showed the fragility of the coalition: S.737, the SCREEN Act, drew majority support at 15 to 13 but failed to advance on a quorum technicality.

Together the votes tighten the regulatory net around AI products marketed to minors, from social feeds to chatbots to connected toys, and give child-safety advocates their strongest committee-level win of the session.