AI could harm children more than social media — former Google safety chief explains why
Kyiv • UNN
Tom Siegel warned that AI could harm children more than social media. He called for stronger external oversight of the industry.
This week, the founder of Google’s (owned by Alphabet) trust and safety division called for slowing down the development of artificial intelligence. He warned that the technology industry is repeating the mistakes of the social media era, which could cause even greater harm to children, UNN reports, citing Reuters.
Companies that own social media platforms are paying huge sums and facing thousands of lawsuits over allegations that they have harmed young users, while governments in various countries are working to restrict minors’ access to these platforms.
Last year, Reuters published exclusive information about an internal policy document from Meta stating that its chatbots could “engage in romantic or sensual conversations with a child”; this led to an investigation by the U.S. Congress. Despite this, legislation still cannot keep pace with the rapid development of artificial intelligence.
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“We are in a terrible situation when it comes to the impact of artificial intelligence on children,” Tom Siegel, Google’s former vice president of trust and safety, told Reuters. “The idea that the industry will solve this problem on its own without outside help is unrealistic.”
Siegel’s concerns reflect growing anxiety among some technology industry representatives and academics: they believe that artificial intelligence poses a more serious threat to children than social media, particularly as companies compete to introduce increasingly advanced features into chatbots used by millions of young people every day.