Key facts
- Former Google VP of trust and safety Tom Siegel warned AI poses a greater threat to children than social media.
- Siegel joined Common Sense Media to lead its new Youth AI Safety Institute.
- The institute aims to develop standards for AI firms and assess children's AI use.
- Siegel cited risks including suicide, psychosis, and cognitive offloading from AI use.
- He suggested AI companies implement robust age verification and allow users to disable AI features.
Tom Siegel, the former vice president of trust and safety at Google, has warned that the rapid development of artificial intelligence could lead to greater harm to children than social media did. He expressed concerns that the tech industry is repeating mistakes made during the social media era, potentially exposing young users to severe risks.
Siegel announced this week that he is joining Common Sense Media, a children's online advocacy group, to lead its newly launched Youth AI Safety Institute. This non-profit organization, established in 2003, focuses on researching and reviewing media suitability for children. The institute, backed by entities like Anthropic and the OpenAI Foundation, will assess children's use of AI.
Siegel plans to develop accountability standards for AI firms, working collaboratively with both the companies and third-party groups. He previously worked at Google from 2004 to 2019, leaving after concluding the industry was struggling to create safe online spaces. He later co-founded TrustLab, a startup focused on safety threat detection tools.
He stated that major AI companies are currently releasing features for children without adequate safeguards. Siegel highlighted potential harms such as suicide, psychosis, and cognitive offloading, which occurs when individuals rely too heavily on AI for answers, diminishing critical thinking. He suggested immediate steps like robust age verification for chatbots and the option to disable AI features in search engines, similar to content filters.
A Google spokesperson responded that parents have controls to limit children's access to the search engine and described AI Search features as useful for learning. An OpenAI spokesperson noted the company uses account and behavioral signals alongside self-reported age to identify underage users, continuously testing and improving these systems. Anthropic did not immediately respond to a request for comment.