The digital world is becoming increasingly perilous for youngsters due to the progress of artificial intelligence.
Daily, kids are being bombarded with online hate, harassment, and misinformation. A report reveals that this issue is intensifying as a result of the implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI). It's becoming tougher to distinguish fact from fiction.
This is the main takeaway from the annual report released by jugendschutz.net, a youth protection center backed by both federal and state governments. The report notes that current generative AI is making it harder to distinguish truth from lies, thereby escalating risks such as sexual abuse, bullying, and extremism.
Family Minister Lisa Paus voiced her concerns over the report, highlighting the rise of hate, harassment, and misinformation online. She also criticized a debate culture that often disregards social norms. "Young people deserve a secure and carefree digital existence. Regrettably, we're still far from achieving that," Paus stated, mostly placing the blame on platform providers.
Last year, jugendschutz.net handled around 7,645 cases. Two-thirds of these incidents involved sexual violence, 12% centered around sex or pornography, and 11% addressed political extremism. Further, 5% concerned self-harm content, and 2% involved cyberbullying.
jugendschutz.net reports violations to respective platform providers or law enforcement agencies when they detect child or youth pornography, or if they detect a potential threat to life and limb. By year's end, around 90% of the reported violations were removed, equivalent to 6,902 cases.
However, Stefan Glaser, jugendschutz.net's director, expressed frustration with the online service providers. "They're not doing enough to protect children and young people", Glaser stated, adding that they usually act too slowly when violations are reported to them, and their user age verification processes could be improved.
The surge in Internet use among young individuals is contributing to the rise of online hate, harassment, and misinformation. Therefore, it's crucial for these young users to be equipped with digital literacy skills to distinguish fact from fiction.
Given the increasing reliance on Internet use for information, young individuals are often exposed to risks like sexual abuse, bullying, and extremist content, exacerbated by the use of AI.
Additional Insights
AI can contribute to online risks for minors in multiple ways, such as:
- Promoting Harmful Content: AI-driven recommendation algorithms often serve youth disturbing or inappropriate content without their intent, exposing them to harmful material and fostering social comparison and mental health issues.
- Facilitating Sextortion and Harassment: Loose privacy settings and unchecked user interactions can lead to minors being targeted for sextortion and online harassment.
- Misuse of Generative AI: Generative AI can be used to create harmful content, such as AI-generated images of child sexual abuse, which can be used to blackmail children and force them into further abuse.
- Personalized Manipulation: AI can be used to personalize manipulation, making it more effective in deceiving or exploiting children.
These issues call for policy recommendations, legislative actions, education and awareness, enhanced law enforcement powers, and international cooperation. Measures include:
- Policy Recommendations: Banning deceptive platform design, strengthening privacy protections, and mandating transparency in AI-driven content delivery to mitigate the risks posed by manipulative platform designs and AI-driven content distribution.
- Legislative Actions: Introducing groundbreaking legislation in the UK making it illegal to possess, create, or distribute AI tools designed to generate child sexual abuse material.
- Education and Awareness: Encouraging parents to have open conversations with their children about the risks and benefits of AI tools and content online.
- Enhanced Law Enforcement Powers: Giving authorities increased capabilities to inspect digital devices for swift action against potential offenders.
- International Cooperation: Encouraging other countries to follow the UK's proactive stance, potentially leading to more unified global efforts to combat online child exploitation.
These efforts aim to create a safer online environment for children by addressing the specific challenges posed by AI and ensuring technology is safe by design and default.
