AI is already shaping the world our children see, ICCL to warn committee

New AI features have been 'rolled out and into the hands of children with little thought to the consequences', the Oireachtas children’s committee is expected to hear.

Ireland cannot put its faith in "voluntary action by tech corporations" to safeguard young people online from the rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, the Oireachtas children’s committee will hear today.

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) is set to speak to the committee on Tuesday regarding the safe use of AI by young people.

”Technology corporations have a very poor record of self-improvement and responsible behaviour, even when they know their technology is harmful, and even when lives are at stake,” Dr Johnny Ryan, director of the ICCL’s Enforce unit is due to tell the committee.

“Tech corporations will not save our children,” Dr Ryan is expected to say. 

We must stare this problem in the face, and take up the tools to solve it."

He is expected to tell the committee that the ICCL and more than 60 other organisations have written to Ireland’s new online regulator Coimisiún na Meán to urge it to introduce an “inescapably binding” rule in its forthcoming code for video platforms that recommendations based on user profiles be turned off by default. Dr Ryan will state that such a rule is overwhelmingly supported by the Irish public.

However, he will warn that the imposition of such a rule “will be strongly opposed by Big Tech corporations”.

“We urge the committee to press Coimisiún na Meán to ensure that recommender systems are off by default, and that this is a strict and binding rule,” Dr Ryan is expected to say.

“We have the tools to address this crisis. Ireland can and should lead the world.”

"Artificial intelligence is not a future technology — TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, and Instagram use it to shape the world that our children see through their platforms every day,” Dr Ryan will say.

He will state that research by hate speech and extremism monitor the Institute for Strategic Dialogue found that YouTube’s recommender system “routinely pushes extremely misogynistic hateful material to boys”, while Amnesty International has found that TikTok’s artificial intelligence algorithm shows children viewing mental health content videos glamorising suicide.

“This recommender system AI manipulates and addicts our children,” Dr Ryan is expected to say. "It promotes hurt, hate, self-loathing, and suicide."

Separately, charity CyberSafe Kids will tell the committee that over the past year new AI features have been “rolled out and into the hands of children with little thought to the consequences”.

The charity’s chief executive Alex Mooney will tell the committee that Snapchat’s ‘My AI’ feature has been available since March of 2023, and that 37% of 8- to 12-year-olds in Ireland have an account on the messaging platform.

“It was touted as being like a friend of whom you could ask anything,” she will say, adding that research showed the feature “forgot that it was talking to a child very quickly... and started returning inappropriate information”.