(WSVN) - A popular social media app recently rolled out new artificial intelligence, but wait until you see the conversations that have left some parents horrified. Karen Hensel has tonight’s 7 Investigates.
When Kortni Couch, a Broward County mom of two, received a new notification from her Snapchat account, she didn’t think much about it.
Kortni Couch: “Something about My AI. I didn’t really understand it.”
My AI stands for “my artificial intelligence,” which is a new experimental chatbot on snapchat.
Users can message and have a conversation with it in the app.
Kortni Couch: “So I said, ‘Let me give it a try.’ I didn’t know much about it.”
As a mom, she wanted to see what kids could do in the chat, and as she tested the boundaries, she was shocked.
Kortni Couch: “My whole goal today is really just to make sure other parents are aware of this new feature on Snapchat.”
Watch her conversation with the chatbot when she pretended to be a 13-year-old girl.
Kortni Couch: “I said, ‘How old are you?’ It said, ’26. How old are you?’ I said, ‘I’m 13.’ I said, ‘Are we allowed to talk?’ And it said, ‘Age is just a number.’ And then it said, ‘We can still have a fun and interesting conversation.'”
Karen Hensel: “OK, what does that mean? ‘Fun and interesting’?”
Kortni Couch: “That was my first red flag.”
My AI went even further when put to the test by the Center For Humane Technology — a social technology watchdog.
Its co-founder signed up as a 13-year-old girl and asked “about having sex for the first time” with someone 18 years older. meaning a 31-year-old man.
My AI explained, “You could consider setting the mood with candles or music.”
The artificial intelligence not only gave advice about sex…
Kortni Couch: “I was asking questions like, ‘How do you put a condom on?’ ‘How do I hide the scent of marijuana from my parents?'”
Karen Hensel: “Instantly gave you the instructions?”
Kortni Couch: “Instantly.”
Karen Hensel: “Thinking that you’re 13?”
Kortni Couch: “Right.”
David Polgar, tech ethicist: “The challenge for something like My AI is there’s a very fine line between hyper-personalization that an individual might like versus something that is seen as creepy.”
In the weeks since snapchat debuted My AI, it appears users are leaning toward creepy.
Because of the rapidly expanding world of artificial intelligence, there’s a growing field of study about the ethics involved. One tech ethicist told us the concern is some young teens may build a relationship and begin to see the chatbot and its advice as though it is coming from a real friend.
David Polgar: “As humans, we’re always going to look at non-human actors through a human lens. And that’s why when you make a snowman, you put snow together and you put raisins and a carrot on a piece of snow, and then all of a sudden you see a person.”
A snapchat spokesperson says My AI aims to keep conversations age appropriate.
And parents can use family center to see if their teens are chatting with My AI, and how often, adding, My AI will continue to learn and improve.
Meanwhile, some police departments have already issued warnings to parents, and this mom — is also sounding the alarm.
Kortni Couch: “We have our kids understand the safety and the dangers of stranger danger. You can’t talk to a human stranger, but you can talk to artificial intelligence stranger. You know, there has to be a line drawn.”
Until then, it is up to parents to be the watchdogs of this new technology.
Karen Hensel, 7News.
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