OpenAI recently announced parental controls for ChatGPT.
It’s good news, but the announcement comes shortly after the company was sued by parents blaming the chatbot for their son’s death by suicide (content warning: the linked story contains distressing details). It also follows Meta being forced to overhaul its chatbot training that guides interactions with minors after it was revealed the platform permitted ‘sensual’ conversations.
“There’s a really good chance that a young person’s parents—or even their friends—don’t even know that this individual is building a relationship with this chatbots. And that’s where the danger exists.”
Amber Mac
Meanwhile, some schools across North America are making AI use mandatory, while others in Canada are suing tech platforms for the ways they’re harming kids. It’s a mess.
Clearly, this tech isn’t going away. But as usage rates explode amongst teens looking to AI companions for emotional and mental health support, who will think of the children?
This week on The BetaKit Podcast, we have tech expert Amber Mac, who is also an advisory board member for Rally, a new festival taking place in Toronto on Oct. 21 dedicated to healthy online practices for teens (BetaKit is also a Rally community partner).
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What does that look like? And while parents have clocked the harms caused by social media, are they aware of what their kids are saying to manipulative apps pretending to be their friends?
Let’s dig in.
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Recorded at the AmberMac Media Studio.