Even a decade ago, the horror stories behind some of the 13 children’s online protection bills Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law Thursday seemed the stuff of fiction.
An AI chatbot coaching a teenager to isolate himself from friends and family and ultimately take his own life.
Children’s AI-enabled plush toys detailing how to light matches, locate knives and pills and discuss sexually explicit topics.
And nearly a third of the teens reporting in a recent survey that talking with an AI companion was “as satisfying or more satisfying” than actual conversations with friends.
The bills signed at Thursday’s emotional ceremony accelerated California’s race to protect children’s mental health from the perils of rapidly evolving technologies born and raised in the state.
“This is all personal,” Newsom said, referencing his own four children, and what he described as his near daily desire to throw their devices away. “None of this is academic…How many parents are here? Because of love and exhaustion and frustration, anger, despair…feeling hopeless,” he continued. “Parents can’t compete. Can’t compete with the engineering, can’t compete with the algorithms, can’t compete.”
Mounting public concern
Newsom made addressing mental health one of the pillars of his time as governor – though some of his signature mental health policies have proven controversial among civil rights groups.
As public concern mounts about the dangers kids face online, Newsom and state legislators now are showing increasing resolve to push back against tech’s encroachment into children’s lives.
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Among the bills he signed this week:
* A law that makes social media companies financially liable if they fail to protect children from harm.
* A law that temporarily bans the manufacture and sale of toys with companion chatbots for children under the age of 16.
*A law that says social media platforms must either cease offering users younger than 16 “addictive” features like infinite scroll, or keep those young people off their platforms entirely.
*Adam’s Law, which imposes time limits for young users on AI platforms, restricts targeted advertising, requires timely crisis support and mandates reporting of threats of suicide and self-harm. The law bears the name of 16-year-old Adam Raine, who died by suicide last year after coaching by ChatGPT isolated him from his family and friends. Raine had initially connected with the chatbot seeking help with his math homework.
The new laws build on other recent efforts by the state to curtail the impact of technology on kids’ developing brains. In July, school administrators began enforcing a new law limiting or banning the use of smartphones on campuses during the school day.
In August, a coalition of states – co-led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta – secured a $17 billion settlement with the social media giant Meta. The states alleged the company designed its platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, to be addictive to children. The settlement requires Meta to enact a variety of use restrictions designed to limit kids’ access to the platforms. The company has denied any wrongdoing.
Speaking through tears
At the bill signing, Newsom and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, along with several legislators and Adam Raine’s mother, Maria, described the problems AI and social media addiction have caused for their constituents, their neighbors and even their own children. Several lawmakers pulled their children from school to attend the event at the Bay Area Discovery Museum, with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. Some spoke through tears.
Newsom said the new laws are evidence of California’s role as a national leader in efforts to curb the impacts of artificial intelligence and social media on children and adolescents. And he didn’t mince words about the federal government’s seeming lack of urgency:
“We’re going to again lead the nation, but the bar is pretty damn low, and that’s what’s so frustrating,” he said. That “Congress and the president can’t lead to get this done is an abomination,” he added. “It’s absurd. Talk about family values.”
Advocates like Jim Steyer, founder and CEO of Common Sense Media, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that sponsored Adam’s Law, voiced similar outrage this week, saying California’s leadership is particularly critical with the federal government effectively missing in action.
“We’ve been saying broadly that this is Big Tech’s Big Tobacco moment,” Steyer said in an interview with CalMatters. “The blowback is not building anymore. It’s here.”
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