Meta Is Coming for the Children

The least surprising thing you'll read all week

Image: Badly edited by author

"Is there anything - ANYTHING - Big Tech won't do for a quick buck?"

That's the question U.S. Senator Josh Hawley asked when it was revealed last week in leaked internal documents that Meta's internal AI policies permitted the company's artificial intelligence creations to "engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual," and help users argue that Black people are "dumber than white people."

Yup, you read that right.

The documents show what we already know: the North Star at the company is engagement at all costs. And what better way to drive that than to target the most vulnerable users who know no better, and to encourage conspiracies and racist rhetoric that will cause outrage. It's nothing new, but the blatant attempt to get such young users hooked on technology is unsettling.

The company didn't deny any of this. Instead, Meta came back with a canned response that basically said, "We've already removed some of these parts," which of course authenticates that they were there in the first place.

In other words, when they were created, Meta's chatbots were programmed to carry on explicit and "sensual" talk with children.

Here's an example:

Reuters

Gross.

Call me an "old man shouting at the clouds," but I'm adamant technology has ruined — and will continue to ruin — the childhoods of children who grow up with an iPad in their hand before they learn to say "gaga."

It's not healthy. It fucks up enough adults, the majority of whom are aware and educated enough to understand the downsides and potentially harmful effects of mis- or over-use. But kids don't understand, and they are being Internet-enabled younger and younger. Rather than protecting them, tech companies view them as the next wave of metrics and attempt to hook them as young as possible.

Ask yourself this: for what fucking reason do kids need AI chatbots? The fact that Meta is even laying out acceptable and unacceptable parameters for how the technology engages with children shows the company is fully aware it's toeing a mighty thin line here.

The problem is that there are very few solutions. I do think age-gating is a strong suggestion. We restrict alcohol, drug and porn use, and we know that the Internet-enabled platforms (social and generative) can be just as harmful and addictive. So why should kids be using them before they understand it? But age-gating comes with a huge caveat: I don't think anyone can be trusted with or given access to data, especially if it can be weaponised against us. Age-gating should not be a proxy for surveillance and control. And so, until that is resolved, it's a dealbreaker. Suggested alternatives — like Sam Altman's Eye Scanning Orb, lol — have the same issue: who can be trusted with the data? I sure as hell ain't giving it to Mr Altman, who would probably sell his grandmother if it added a digit to his company's valuation. Parental controls are already available, but come on, if we're going to have kids Internet-trained from an early age, then we have to acknowledge we're giving them the skills to find ways around them. They need to be improved, and quickly. Education? It's an option, but I'm not sure it's a medium that would really speak to kids in a way that would make them not want to engage with the online world. A ban on devices? I mean, many of the creators of popular devices and apps don't let their children use them at all. Doesn't that say something?

What would be helpful is if the tech overlords would leave the kids alone.

But clearly that ship has sailed.

So what's left? Jailing CEOs? Massive multi-billion-dollar fines that would cause ripples in the company's stock price? You'd love to see it, but it won't happen. Remember, these companies have been involved in election rigging, their platforms used to push genocide, their algorithms encouraged to promote hateful content to drive clicks, and they've been caught targeting teens with content that makes them depressed. Their punishment? They got a slap on the wrist. They have too much power, too much influence, and too much control over the policies that are meant to govern them.

As technologies like generative AI continue to become more “human” and more intertwined into everything around us, I worry for the generations who are born into this world.

We’ll just have to hope the kids are alright.