Irish Examiner view: AI is merely a reflection of our untruths

We are facing an entirely new frontier in child safety,

These stories combine to open up an entirely new frontier in child safety, one in which some of the worst aspects of social media — the disregard for truth and the irresponsible dissemination of falsehoods — are combined with AI’s false omniscience. File picture

One of the great challenges of modern life is managing the use of social media by children and teenagers, a challenge complicated by the lack of co-operation from social media companies. These vast, profitable companies shrug off multimillion-euro fines for scraping children’s data and other transgressions, pleading that they are platforms, not publishers.

Now that challenge has been complicated by AI companies, with Niamh Griffin reporting here yesterday on the growing number of teens and children relying on AI for sex education — and being fed myths and untruths instead.