Amman — After years of concerns emerging over the risks social media poses to children, several US states reached an agreement this summer that was described as a turning point in protecting young people. But a new generation of children has already begun using a technology that could have an even greater impact: artificial intelligence.
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Experiences with regulating social media offer lessons that could help protect children from the harms of AI, which is developing so rapidly that its potential effects on children and their development are still being discovered.
Christine Pride, a parents’ rights advocate who began calling for social media reform after the death of her teenage son, said a settlement under which Meta agreed to changes to its platforms and stronger safety measures, valued at $18 billion, represented progress because it addressed risks “we have known about for years.” She added: “How are we going to deal with what we don’t know is coming?”
AI companies have begun adopting some safeguards that first emerged in social media, such as age verification and restrictions on certain experiences for underage users. But child-safety advocates say the most important lesson from efforts by parents, companies and regulators is the need to act early to limit the harms of AI.
Dr. Dana Suskind, a professor of surgery and pediatrics at the University of Chicago, said the hope is that society will not enter this new technological revolution unprepared.
“We learned that we had it backwards. Don’t release a technology to people, then wait to see if it harms them, and then come back and say, ‘Oh, we didn’t notice,’” she said.
Different risks, overlapping solutions
Concerns over social media have focused on the amount of time children spend on platforms such as Instagram and TikTok and the impact on their mental health. Concerns have also included data privacy, cyberbullying and the possibility of children being targeted by people they meet online.
AI, meanwhile, may have an even greater presence in children’s lives.
Children are not only watching AI-generated content on social media platforms; they can also interact directly with chatbots, including chatbots integrated into social media applications.
Many use these tools to help with studying and schoolwork, while some have developed unhealthy relationships with chatbots. Experts are also studying the impact of AI access on children’s brain development, while companies are marketing AI-powered toys to children as young as two.
Efforts to protect children in both areas are taking place at the legal and legislative levels. Individuals and states have filed lawsuits against technology companies over concerns about the safety of their products, while lawmakers at both the state and federal levels are examining ways to regulate the sector.
Experts say AI companies have moved to introduce safeguards relatively faster than social media companies, possibly as a result of growing regulatory and public scrutiny over social media’s effects on children’s mental health.
In August, OpenAI launched dedicated accounts for teenagers, nearly four years after ChatGPT was introduced. The restrictions include banning romantic conversations or suggestions that the chatbot has personal feelings toward the user. Meta, which acquired Instagram in 2012, did not introduce teen accounts on the platform until 2024.
When announcing the settlement this summer, Meta said providing a safe and useful experience for teenagers on its platforms was “an absolute necessity,” and called on its competitors TikTok and YouTube to adopt some of the standards it agreed to follow.
Balancing AI’s benefits and risks
Experts said the safeguards included in Meta’s settlement cannot easily be transferred to AI because young people interact with chatbots differently from the way they use social media platforms.
Sarah Kreps, a professor and director of the Tech Policy Institute at Cornell University, noted that restricting AI for minors is more complicated because its benefits are clear in areas such as tutoring and legitimate help with schoolwork, despite concerns about cheating.
Kreps said setting time limits such as allowing only two hours of use or banning access between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. does not easily address the issue because AI has useful applications that are difficult to justify restricting in the same way as social media.
According to the Pew Research Center, 64% of US teenagers have used chatbots. Searching for information and getting help with schoolwork were among the most common uses, while 47% said they had used them for entertainment and 42% to summarize an article, book or video. About 12% had used them for emotional support or advice.
Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation, said he is particularly concerned about relationships and attachment that may develop between young people and chatbots, as well as the “cognitive offloading” that occurs when people delegate thinking processes to these tools.
“I have long believed that AI poses an even greater threat to children than social media. But if we can’t make progress on social media, doing so with AI will be hopeless,” Haidt said.
Federal legislation is still in its early stages
Although recent lawsuits have held social media companies responsible for harm suffered by users, federal legislation concerning social media has advanced slowly, while AI regulation has also lagged behind.
US President Donald Trump’s administration has said that regulation, particularly at the state rather than federal level, could hinder the growth of AI companies and weaken the progress of US laboratories in the global race.
Nevertheless, some lawmakers are trying to advance legislation.
Several child-safety bills, including measures concerning minors’ privacy, interactions with chatbots and the safety of AI-powered toys, have passed subcommittees in the Senate with bipartisan support.
However, final passage still requires a lengthy legislative process. State-level legislation is moving faster, as demonstrated by its role in pressuring Meta over the harms associated with social media.
Kreps said the United States is a federal system in which states legislate on a wide range of areas, from electric bicycles to driver’s licenses and firearms, while passing federal laws or regulations can be more difficult.
Some child-safety advocates say one of the biggest gains from this year’s progress on social media has been increased awareness of the risks the internet poses to young people.
Pride, whose son Carson died after experiencing severe cyberbullying on Snapchat, said it was encouraging to see lawmakers discussing AI regulation. However, she acknowledged that legislation cannot keep pace with technological development and that children will continue to face harms associated with these tools in the meantime.
“I don’t think we can afford more late apologies when it comes to children,” she added.
Resource: Al-Ghad.
