naomialderman.bsky.social profile picture

Naomi Alderman @naomialderman.bsky.social

having thought about this for three days, my current status is:

what the FUCK are we doing trying to ban social media for kids and not banning AI use? we are literally telling them not to use the computer to talk to their real friends but instead to the imaginary technology monetisable 'friends'.

naomialderman.bsky.social profile picture

Naomi Alderman @naomialderman.bsky.social

this makes me suspect that one of the routes that AI companies are aiming at is targeting young people. anything that existed when you were a kid feels normal and indispensable. especially if you always used AI to write all your essays for you. and to comfort you when your parents were arguing.

Replies

  2. annadent.bsky.social profile picture

    Anna Dent @annadent.bsky.social

    I was wondering this the other day - how do you mentally square the idea of online safety with chatbots in the classroom, and for companions, which serve up 'sensual' conversation and made up bullsh*t. They are never part of the same political conversation

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  4. naomialderman.bsky.social profile picture

    Naomi Alderman @naomialderman.bsky.social

    the endgame of 'ban social media and smartphones for kids' is not 'suddenly free-range childhood', in this situation. it's children on their laptops 'for schoolwork' asking the AI to tell them they're OK people and talk through their problems.

    we are fighting the previous battle.

    4
  7. cyrilleviossat.bsky.social profile picture

    Cyrille Viossat #stopfascism @cyrilleviossat.bsky.social

    I am a parent and do feel that social media is highly dangerous on mental health, something backed by a numer of studies.

    But if your gripes is really with the "not banning AI use", you'll find no disagreement with me!

    1
  10. jimc5.bsky.social profile picture

    Jim @jimc5.bsky.social

    When Meta AI got caught talking sexually to kids under 13, I thought, "why are kids under 13 even talking to Meta AI???"

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  11. inigopurcell.bsky.social profile picture

    Inigo Purcell @inigopurcell.bsky.social

    So I have some thoughts on how we got here, based on a lot of experiences with very inflexible bits of mh services/mh charities when younger and the stuff I am still trying to unlearn from that.

    We've had about 20-30 years of a lot of youth wellbeing stuff arguing for doing everything "healthily"

    1
  12. asie.pl profile picture

    asie @asie.pl

    but the EU's age control regulations mention restricting AI use for minors in their guidelines:

    "[...] For example, AI chatbots should not be displayed prominently, they should not be part of suggested contacts or grouped with users the minor is connected to"

    1
  15. lowellakwest.bsky.social profile picture

    Lowell West @lowellakwest.bsky.social

    One of the thoughts that actively keeps me up at night is that there is no HIPAA with AI. They will totally sell kids’ darkest secrets to anyone with a nickel. How that is not a bigger problem than social media, I do not know.

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  21. valentenya.bsky.social profile picture

    Valentenya @valentenya.bsky.social

    It’s a performative gesture to worried but tech ignorant parents. It played well in the focus groups and polling so they went for it. Nobody in govt thinks stuff through. And the SM firms are ok with it because it doesn’t touch their precious algorithms and they know the kids will find workarounds.

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  23. asynkoi.bsky.social profile picture

    AS Koi @asynkoi.bsky.social

    communication, especially non-stratified, accessible communication, questions/breaks down authoritarianism/facism... AI is a tool of fascism and oligarchy, and it will teach what the people who sponsored it want.

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  25. @rebegin.bsky.social

    LLMs can be really helpful for learning. I would lament seeing the technology outright banned. For me personally as a middle schooler it would have helped inform me of topics I didn’t learn about until getting to college.

    AI companions aren’t the only use case.

    1
  27. vmlinuz.org profile picture

    vmlinuz @vmlinuz.org

    Hmm, I don't disagree, except - a lot of "social media" nowadays is nothing to do with talking to your real friends, and is a lot to do with being 'influenced' by (at best) commercial and (at worst) abusive/manipulative parties. I'm 100% in favour of actually social media, not so much the rest.

    1
  31. toths.info profile picture

    Steven Toth @toths.info

    It’s pretty insane that we are telling them not only to chat all day with a computer babysitter, cheating their way through thinking, but also the very usage of the tech causes huge damage to the environment on top of it all. #thinkforyourslef

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  32. stuarthoughton.bsky.social profile picture

    Stuart Houghton @stuarthoughton.bsky.social

    This is so true. We have slowly removed all the third spaces kids could use to the point where social media has become that space. Now we want to put that in a chokehold too and replace it with this ersatz bullshit

    0
  33. mikecook82.bsky.social profile picture

    Mike Cook @mikecook82.bsky.social

    Horror movie idea: a kid becomes infatuated with an AI “friend” and it drives the kid to murder his friends and family and helps him figure out elaborate murder methods. Like “her” meets “child’s play” meets “the Good son”. Would be fucking terrifying and prescient. Somebody call Jordan peel.

    4
  35. karenosborne.bsky.social profile picture

    Karen Osborne @karenosborne.bsky.social

    We just got a message from my kiddo’s school that they’ll be using chatbots in class. I wrote the kind of letter back that you need to let sit for a day or two to make sure the tone was right.

    1