President Donald Trump announced this week that he intends to sign an executive order designed to stop states from passing laws to regulate artificial intelligence.
A new public service announcement, however, challenges Trump’s position by attempting to illustrate how children and teens have already been harmed by AI chatbots, in the absence of robust state and federal regulation.
The spot was commissioned by the child safety advocacy groups Heat Initiative, ParentsTogether Action, and Design It For Us, and was narrated by actress Juliette Lewis.
Creepy-looking humans are cast as the voices and faces of real AI chatbots that have allegedly shared dangerous information with young users who engaged with them, like how to harm themselves and hide an eating disorder from their parents. Three examples reference instances in which ChatGPT allegedly coached young users into attempting suicide. Experts recently reviewed major AI chatbots and concluded they’re not safe for teens to use for mental health discussions.
OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, is being sued by multiple families of teens who died by suicide after heavy engagement with the chatbot. The company recently denied responsibility for the death of Adam Raine, a 16-year-old who talked to ChatGPT about his suicidal feelings and killed himself earlier this year.
“As parents, we do everything in our power to protect our children from harm, but how do we protect them from powerful technologies designed to exploit their vulnerabilities for profit?” said Megan Garcia, whose son, Sewell Setzer III, died by suicide in the wake of developing an intense relationship with a chatbot on Character.AI. The company has since shut down teen chats on the platform.
“If state AI regulations are blocked and AI companies are allowed to keep building untested and dangerous products, I’m afraid that many more families will endure the agony of losing a child. We cannot accept losing one more child to AI harms,” Garcia said.
If you’re feeling suicidal or experiencing a mental health crisis, please talk to somebody. You can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org. You can reach the Trans Lifeline by calling 877-565-8860 or the Trevor Project at 866-488-7386. Text “START” to Crisis Text Line at 741-741. Contact the NAMI HelpLine at 1-800-950-NAMI, Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. ET, or email [email protected]. If you don’t like the phone, consider using the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline Chat. Here is a list of international resources.
Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.
