SYDNEY, Mar 2 (Reuters) – Australia’s internet regulator said it may push search engines and app stores to block artificial intelligence services that fail to verify user ages after a Reuters review found more than half had not made public any steps to comply by a deadline next week.

The warning reflects one of the most ‌aggressive efforts globally to rein in AI companies, which face a growing number of lawsuits for failing to stop – and even encouraging – self-harm or violence while researchers caution ‌that such platforms are more harmful to youth mental health than social media.

Australia in December became the first country to ban social media for teenagers, citing mental health concerns, prompting an outpouring of world leaders saying they would do the ​same. The country now says it is spearheading a similar crackdown on AI by putting age restrictions on the content people can access with the technology.

From March 9, internet services in Australia including search tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and lesser-known companion chatbots must restrict Australians under 18 from receiving pornography, extreme violence, self-harm and eating disorder content or face fines of up to A$49.5 million ($35 million).

“eSafety will use the full range of our powers where there is non-compliance,” a spokesperson for the commissioner said, including “action in respect of gatekeeper services such as search engines and app stores that provide key points of access to particular ‌services”.

OpenAI and companion chatbot startup Character.AI have faced wrongful death lawsuits ⁠over their interactions with young users, while OpenAI acknowledged this week it deactivated the ChatGPT account of a teen mass shooting suspect in Canada months before the attack, without telling the authorities.

Australia is yet to experience reports of chatbot-linked violence or self-harm, but the regulator has reported being told about children ⁠as young as 10 talking to the AI-powered interactive tools up to six hours a day.

eSafety was “concerned that AI companies are leveraging emotional manipulation, anthropomorphism and other advanced techniques to entice, entrance and entrench young people into excessive chatbot usage”, the spokesperson said.

Top app store operator Apple did not respond but said on its website last week that it would use “reasonable methods” to stop minors downloading 18+ apps in Australia and other ​jurisdictions ​that are introducing age restrictions, without specifying the methods.

A spokesperson for Google, Australia’s dominant search engine provider and No.2 ​app store operator, declined to comment.