A new report from the Youth AI Safety Institute at Common Sense Media has found that Google Search AI features pose an 'unacceptable risk' to children, with the artificial intelligence tools built directly into the default search experience on school and personal devices. According to the report, on test accounts configured for minors, Google's AI features failed to detect suicide risks, said an eating disorder symptom was normal, and provided instructions for creating deepfakes. The report specifically evaluated AI Overviews, which generate automated answers above traditional search results, and AI Mode, a conversational feature that lets users chat back and forth with the search engine. Unlike standalone chatbots, Google's AI tools are built directly into the default search experience on school and personal devices, currently offering administrators or parents no way to disable them.
The Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act, passed by the U.S. House on June 29th with a vote of 267-117, has raised significant privacy concerns about age verification systems. According to reports from CoinDesk, identity verification provider AU10TIX, which served companies like TikTok and Uber, was found to have exposed drivers' licenses to hackers for over a year in 2024. In 2025, the age-verification systems provider for Discord was breached, exposing potentially 70,000 users' government IDs. The Cardano Foundation's CEO Frederik Gregaard argues that once age verification depends on vendors and stored identity data, safety systems can become breach vectors, with AI accelerating these risks.
The KIDS Act doesn't mandate age verification outright but creates liability for platforms allowing minors access to their services. As reported by CoinDesk, this liability framework still produces verification mechanisms, with companies choosing to verify age rather than accept legal exposure. The bill now sits in the Senate, where Democrat Richard Blumenthal and Republican Marsha Blackburn have rejected the House version and are pushing a tougher version tied to federal preemption of state AI laws. A Senate Commerce Committee markup is expected this month, with the outcome shaping online identity verification for years to come.
The Cardano Foundation's Veridian has demonstrated that digital identity can be delivered in a privacy-preserving manner, allowing users to prove age without exposing other personal data. According to CoinDesk reports, this Utah-based system shows that trust can be established without unnecessary disclosure, proving that 'there's no explicit age check in the bill' defense misses the practical incentive mechanisms at work. The foundation advocates for data minimization, limited retention, and privacy-preserving verification where verification is truly needed.
The Cardano Foundation argues that broad mandates pushing platforms toward more data retention and identity dependence create unnecessary risks. As reported by CoinDesk, the foundation suggests building for data minimization, limiting retention, and using privacy-preserving verification where verification is truly needed. The organization emphasizes that children deserve protection online but don't need a policy framework that makes everyone more visible to achieve internet accountability, advocating for tools that are narrow, purposeful, and minimally invasive while building trust without unnecessary disclosure. The Youth AI Safety Institute's findings suggest an oversight in the global push to protect minors online, with Australia, the UK and parts of Europe having debated or enforced strict social media bans for minors under 16, while US courts have begun handing down historic verdicts against tech companies for negligence in platform design.
