WASHINGTON, Aug. 22 (TNSLrpt) -- The Congressional Research Service issued the following report (No. R49189) on Aug. 14, 2026, entitled "AI Chatbots as Companions: Overview, Uses and Considerations for Congress" by science and technology policy analyst Dominique T. Greene-Sanders. Here are excerpts: * * * SUMMARY A chatbot is an application or a program that simulates human conversation by generating responses to user prompts. Chatbots have existed for approximately 60 years. Technical advances in artificial intelligence (AI) allow chatbots more PR