Duty of Care for Child Protection in AI Chatbots: A Comparative Analysis of EU, US, and Chinese Regulatory Frameworks

Abstract

This article raises two critical questions: How do the European Union, the United States, and China regulate AI chatbots? Should these systems be recharacterized as products with design defects rather than protected speech? This study adopts a comparative legal approach to the regulatory frameworks in Europe, America, and China. The paper analyzes three particular models: the EU’s precautionary risk-based model, China’s administrative oversight, and the US’s tort-based litigation. The findings suggest that the notion of AI as a neutral tool is increasingly untenable. Traditional safe harbor protections are no longer enough to protect children. The paper presents a triple-layer framework to strengthen Duty of Care. This combines China’s pre-deployment (ex-ante) administrative filing at the input layer, the EU’s safety-by-design standards at the model layer, and the US’s post-harm (ex-post) product liability at the output layer. By establishing a triple-layer framework, regulators can effectively intervene in real time to prevent harmful manipulation of minors by AI chatbots.