Sometimes we parents feel so helpless when our children come to us hurting as much as us when they see something awful happening in the world. In her email letter to our community, my friend, colleague and fellow parent Michelle Lipkin wrote, when her 19-year-old daughter asked her to explain what's going on, "I tried my best, but I know my response was inadequate. At times like these, I always … [Read more...] about Supporting the youngest witnesses of this humanitarian crisis
Risk & Safety
Generative AI: July 2023 freeze frame
It's feeling like I need a large language model brain to write about safety with large language models. [I certify that I only wish I had such a brain, and I am a human.] So let's freeze the film for a moment and see where we humans are with generative AI safety. First, so that we're all on the same page, a large language model is basically an algorithmic structure called a "neural … [Read more...] about Generative AI: July 2023 freeze frame
Threads: The new social media kid
"Picture Twitter but with a lot less Elon Musk" is how the Wall Street Journal is describing Threads, Meta's new app. That right there is good news, maybe unusual where tech is concerned. I'll give you a list of reasons in a moment, but first it's only fair to state (or rather link to) my bias, which is not only about how Twitter's Trust & Safety Council was treated after Musk took over but … [Read more...] about Threads: The new social media kid
Surgeon general’s advisory: Let’s take stock
US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy advises that "we are experiencing a youth mental health crisis." Based on the data, there's no question about that. Where there is a question is whether tech and media are the cause. Some scholars simply assert they are (see the sidebar below), but neither the surgeon general nor the American Psychological Association asserts that, and the APA just wrote in its … [Read more...] about Surgeon general’s advisory: Let’s take stock
Lawmakers, controlling and banning kids doesn’t help
The "control paradigm" around child online safety, which researchers on three continents have been calling out for at least five years, is in full bloom now. The term comes from a 2019 book by four Australian scholars about how control and surveillance have come to define digital safety, inclusion and citizenship. (Does that give you pause – especially around the citizenship piece?) Among … [Read more...] about Lawmakers, controlling and banning kids doesn’t help