Digital Privacy

Abstract

Two different pieces of pending federal legislation share the acronym GUARD Act, but they address technological risks at opposite ends of the age spectrum. The Guidelines for User Age-verification and Responsible Dialogue Act of 2026 (S. 3062) would seek to protect minors from potentially harmful interactions with artificial intelligence chatbots and companions through age verification, access restrictions, disclosures, and other safeguards. The separate Guarding Unprotected Aging Retirees from Deception Act (H.R. 2978/S. 2544) would strengthen law enforcement capabilities to investigate increasingly sophisticated financial fraud affecting older Americans, including schemes involving artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency. Neither proposal has yet been enacted into federal law. Examining the two measures together highlights both their potential benefits and their possible unintended consequences, including questions involving privacy, cybersecurity, parental authority, access to beneficial AI technologies, digital inclusion, and civil liberties. Their contrasting approaches also raise a broader question likely to become increasingly important as artificial intelligence permeates everyday life: How can society protect people who may be particularly vulnerable to emerging technologies without unnecessarily limiting their ability to benefit from those same technologies?

The complete article “Your Conversations With AI May Not Be as Private as You Think,” published by Tech Xplore* in May 2026, reports on a study conducted by researchers at the IMDEA Networks Institute examining the privacy practices of leading generative AI platforms, including ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, and Perplexity AI. The researchers found that some AI systems incorporate tracking technologies associated with major technology companies such as Meta, Google, and TikTok, raising concerns about the extent to which user interactions may be monitored or shared with third-party analytics and advertising ecosystems. The following is an overview of the article:

According to the article, the study revealed significant variation in how AI services manage user privacy. While some platforms appeared to limit external tracking mechanisms, others transmitted metadata and usage information that could potentially be used to profile users or monitor behavioral patterns. The researchers emphasized that the concern is not necessarily that full conversations are publicly exposed, but rather that background data collection practices may operate in ways users neither expect nor fully understand.

The article also highlights the growing tendency of users to discuss highly personal, financial, medical, professional, and legal matters with AI systems. In light of this trend, the researchers caution against assuming that conversations with AI platforms are protected by the same confidentiality standards that apply to communications with lawyers, physicians, therapists, or other privileged professionals.

Articles Tagged with Digital Privacy

Two GUARD ACTS: Protecting the Young and the Old in an Age of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Fraud

Abstract

Introduction

Your Conversations With AI May Not be as Private as You Think: An Overview