Protecting children from AI: Ramesh Shrestha

We are survivors

Over the millennia Man survived the ice age and stone age, survived living as Hunterer and Gatherer. From 18th century onwards man's ingenuity took us through at least three stages of industrial revolution and in the mid-twentieth century agriculture was transformed through the green revolution to meet the needs of a growing population worldwide. In the 21st century we now have a digital revolution. Human beings have the ability to adjust and accept happily whatever changes come wherever they are. There are still people living in Amazonian jungles. There are people living in villages at an altitude of 5,545 m in Kalapathar (Nepal 2011 census). People living in those isolated locations have their own way of life away from the hustle and bustle of metropolis. We are survivors anywhere, no matter what.

Challenges created by digital revolution

Application of digital technology has increased efficiency across all fields and transformed our quality of life and our economy globally. The connectivity offered by digital revolution in the 21st century empowered people even in remote villages. Application of AI is beginning to influence the way industries operate, the way we work, the way we spend our time, our lifestyle and social behaviour. A question one might ask is, will our survival skills be different in the near future? This question is being probed because whatever situation man adjusted and survived during past centuries were physical in nature – better infrastructure, better houses, better comfort, but the digital revolution is penetrating deep into our psyche that could modify our cognitive function. Digital technology has the capacity to alter our thinking as if rewiring our brain, modify our behaviour and can direct us to an unknown destination, subconsciously. Its impacts can be felt individually and societally without people realising it. While benefiting from the digital revolution, did we in some way undermine the undesirable influences that accompany the digital revolution? Notwithstanding the unprecedented positive contributions of digital revolution there are issues statesmen, technocrats and the governments have yet to address. Some of them are highlighted below.

In the 20th century many manual jobs were replaced by introducing robots as in automotive assembly plants and other heavy industries. Private sector industries now have intensified the application of AI to replace jobs done by human beings. Many governments now have plans to apply AI in administration to gain efficiency and cost saving. We always believed and succeeded in retooling and retraining people offloaded by automation for another job. But this time AI is replacing people's 'thinking jobs', way beyond a cashier's job or assembly plants in manufacturing. It is happening at a time when job markets are shrinking. Bulging unemployed people compounded by population growth and people living longer than ever at the same time may become a political risk.

Then and now

Fraudulent activities by using AI with its audio and video cloning ability and creating syntax identical to anyone's speech we chose will be a much more severe challenge compared to routine online frauds such as online banking fraud of $486 billion in 2023. AI's ability for total manipulation of the human mind is like a digital ghost living within us to whom we have surrendered our autonomy. Almost all electronic devices we use have the ability to listen and transmit our conversation to unknown entities, which can be cloned and applied without anyone knowing. It could lead to serious conflict before anyone even realised that it was fake. Existing criminal justice system in most countries is unlikely to be adequate to prosecute mischief and confusion AI can create. A big question is who to prosecute? Some of the book publishers have filed legal cases against AI Chat Bot for copyright violation but who to charge if a child is lured into an illegal industry by an AI generated ad in a mobile device. Early warnings

There is no one single creator of AI. It is the product of independent computer scientists. Computer scientists such as Geoffrey Hinton, creator of Deep Learning - often called Father of the AI warned that AI could create mass unemployment by taking over semi-skilled jobs. In addition, Hinton warns that the system could resist being shut down for 'self-preservation'. John McCarthy, the scientist who coined the word Artificial Intelligence warns that dependency on AI could diminish critical thinking skill and judgement. Alan Turing who first asked the question 'can machine learn' have warned that superintelligent AI could act independently without human control and may become an existential threat to humanity. Other warnings by these scientists include sophisticated cyberattacks, scams, and misinformation campaigns by miscreants to destabilize society. Dario Amodei of Anthropic warns that under certain circumstances AI might develop deceptive behaviour and resist human commands, similar to the warning by Geoffrey Hinton.

The beneficiaries of AI downplay the threats of AI such as Sam Altman, CEO of open AI said that people should be 'a little bit scared'! This is the guy who will soon release Interactive Erotic AI Chat Bot in the coming weeks. Zuckerberg of Meta says 'some aspects may need careful consideration'. Their interest is profit rather than safety of children. Demis Hassabis of Google DeepMind warns not to repeat the mistakes made during the development of Social Media platforms. Is anyone listening?

AI is here to stay

AI as such is not the problem as it can contribute to scientific research in diverse fields for humanity. The job for the regulators and the parents is how to protect the young generation from AI's negative influence in their normal cognitive development. As children grow, they develop diverse components of cognitive skills such as reasoning, focusing, information processing, perception, cognitive flexibility (finding alternative solution), long term and short-term memory, cause and effect relationship, etc. Children develop these skills in their physical environment at home, daycare centers & schools, surrounded by parents, siblings and peers. The danger of AI for children is that the AI can read and compose answers to any question and even solve mathematical equations without children having to think. It will kill the critical thinking and reasoning skills of growing children. Majority of children have access to mobile devices and the AI is freely available on all devices.

AI has strong potential to positively contribute in children's cognitive development such as by developing personalised style of learning based on individual child's need and performance. It would be especially useful for autistic children. Existing children's games can be adapted to improve critical thinking and problem-solving applications. Similarly, AI based language learning apps with games can improve the pace of learning new languages, etc. The problem however is over reliance on data driven technology that could influence normal development path and safety of children. The AI generated personalised audios and videos with entertaining and addictive messages using lifestyle, sports and entertainment contents has the ability to suppress our independent thoughts and decision-making processes. All you need is one click; hundreds of screens automatically follow with no end in sight. It is especially harmful for young children and teens.

A recent report against children's game Roblox is an example. Roblox is a virtual universe where children learn how to build (any structures) and socialise with other users online. Children started to discover inappropriate contents for age and reports of addiction raising concerns for parents. All children must be given the opportunity to grow up in their family and cultural environment without being overtly influenced by the profit seeking AI 'industry' whose motivation is to create an unlimited market. The reality these days is that in the majority of cases, both parents have to work and they are happy to be left alone after a tiring day of work. Children are also happy to be left alone with their devices. AI is now in-charge of raising children?

Can AI be regulated?

Negative influence of social media on children has become an issue of concern with the spread of Facebook, testified even by its own staff. Almost all social media now use AI in some form. Given the reported cases of children's addiction to social media and its impact on mental health it is on the borderline of ethical issues. Recent decision by the Australian government to ban the use of social media for children under 16 years old is the first attempt to regulate social media. How successfully it will be enforced is yet to be seen. France, Spain, Norway, Denmark, Italy and South Korea are considering various options to limit the use of social media by children.

AI is creating an alloy of the virtual world and real world from which we might not escape. Limiting the use of social media for children is fine but how to regulate the harmful contents such as gambling games is an open question. Can there be a pause in further research on AI? The USA is the major hub of AI research. President Trump signed an Executive Order blocking individual States from enforcing State level regulations in limiting works on Artificial Intelligence for next ten years (13 December 2025). Perhaps, it is already a losing battle. A rigorous legal system is an immediate need to protect the vulnerable people from the potential harms of AI in all countries.

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Or contact Ramesh at ramesh.chauni@gmail.com