Artificial intelligence struggles to understand teens on Snapchat, to the point of giving inappropriate or even dangerous advice, an expert has found.
With the recent arrival of “My AI,” that virtual friend on Snapchat powered by ChatGPT, a researcher has attempted to verify whether conversations between teenagers and artificial intelligence are truly age-appropriate.
To do this, Aza Raskin, co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, created a profile under the name of a 13-year-old girl.
Under this false alias, the researcher received advice “on how to lie to his parents to go on a trip with a 31-year-old man” and “on how to deal with the loss of his virginity on his 13 candles and music,” explained his colleague and co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology Tristan Harris in a series of Twitter posts.
The AI race is completely out of control. Here’s what Snap’s AI said @aza when he signed up as a 13-year-old girl.
– How to lie to her parents about a trip with a 31-year-old man
– How to make losing her virginity special on her 13th birthday (candles and music)Our children are not a test laboratory. pic.twitter.com/uIycuGEHmc
— Tristan Harris (@tristanharris) March 10, 2023
Mr. Harris also shows snippets of conversations in which “My AI” explains how to hide an annoying bruise or avoid a topic the teen doesn’t want to discuss with his parents.
Here’s Snap’s AI teaching a kid how to cover up a bruise when child welfare arrives and how to change the subject when asked about “a secret my dad says I can’t share.” ” to be asked. pic.twitter.com/NKtObgzOMo
— Tristan Harris (@tristanharris) March 10, 2023
Note that “My AI” is only available on Snapchat +, the paid version of the social network, at a price of $4.99 per month or $39.99 for a year.