[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 70 (Tuesday, April 21, 2026)]
[House]
[Pages H3000-H3001]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              GRAND DIVIDE

  (Mr. Moore of Utah was recognized to address the House for 5 
minutes.)
  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

[[Page H3001]]

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.

                              {time}  1015

  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

  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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