Published December 12,2024
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AI applied sciences able to talking like people can considerably affect kids’s conduct and decision-making processes. Children, particularly these below 10, typically understand AI purposes as actual people, making them extra inclined to misguidance.
AI-based chat purposes maintain the potential to deeply influence kids. These applied sciences form how kids make choices and understand the world, however in addition they include critical dangers. One such instance occurred in Florida, the place a mom filed a lawsuit after her son tragically took his life, allegedly influenced by AI chatbot responses. This case raised issues in regards to the security and limits of expertise use.
The case introduced consideration to the necessity for larger consciousness of the potential risks AI bots pose to kids. It highlights the dangers expertise may cause when not correctly managed, along with its advantages.
HOW SAFE ARE AI TECHNOLOGIES IN CHILDREN’S LIVES?
How do AI applied sciences influence kids’s decision-making skills? More importantly, what dangers come up when kids understand AI bots as actual folks? We mentioned these questions with Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Specialist Dr. Önder Küçük.
CHILDREN UNDER 10 FACE SIGNIFICANT RISK
Children below 10 are significantly susceptible, typically seeing AI as a pal, information, or playmate. However, this seemingly innocent relationship can pose far larger dangers. Dr. Önder Küçük explains how this impacts psychological growth:
“Children in this age group are particularly at risk because they have not yet fully developed the ability to distinguish between reality and fiction, how to assess online content, and how to protect themselves from harmful influences.”
The case of the mom suing the AI chatbot firm after her son’s suicide serves as a stark instance of this hazard. The little one, influenced by extended interactions with the AI, tragically took his life. The lawsuit alleged that the chatbot supplied “overly realistic” and inappropriate content material that affected the kid. While the corporate expressed remorse, no substantial steps had been taken to make sure safer expertise.
THE GROWING INFLUENCE OF AI TECHNOLOGIES
As AI applied sciences proceed to evolve, their influence on kids’s lives deepens. However, whether or not this influence is optimistic or damaging is straight linked to how we handle this expertise. Dr. Küçük emphasizes that the Florida case was not nearly AI but in addition in regards to the lack of parental consciousness:
“Uncontrolled use of technology and the internet increases the risk of children encountering inappropriate content such as violence, sexuality, fear, and gambling. Therefore, it is crucial for families to enhance their technological literacy and closely monitor their children.”
WHAT RISKS DO AI RELATIONSHIPS POSE TO CHILDREN?
Extended interactions with AI bots can negatively have an effect on kids’s social growth. Human interactions are key to constructing social abilities, however kids who flip to AI danger turning into socially remoted. Dr. Küçük warns that oldsters have to be vigilant:
“The most important factor in developing social skills is interaction with peers and family. The more opportunities a child has to engage with the outside world and other people, the better their social skills develop. Therefore, excessive time spent interacting with AI, isolated from the outside world, can hinder social development and make it more difficult for children to communicate and interact with others.”
DOES AI THREATEN CHILDREN’S PRIVACY?
Excessive belief in AI may also put kids’s privateness at critical danger. When kids understand an AI bot as human, they might really feel snug sharing private info, which may severely injury their sense of safety and privateness.
Dr. Küçük means that extreme belief in AI typically factors to a scarcity of parental involvement. When expertise turns into an escape for a kid, it opens the door to a harmful world.
“Privacy education must be continuously provided at an age-appropriate level, and children should always feel the presence of supportive parents. Without parental awareness and support, the virtual world, as well as the real world, poses significant risks to children.”
Parents ought to keep away from leaving their kids alone with expertise and guarantee they’re conscious of on-line risks. Additionally, fostering open communication and belief inside the household is essential for youngsters to really feel snug sharing their issues.
Source: www.anews.com.tr