A study by Common Sense Media labeled Google’s AI search tools an “unacceptable risk” to children, PBS reports.
The organization found that across more than 2,600 test interactions, Google’s two built-in AI search functions, AI Overview and AI Mode, routinely failed to recognize risky and harmful behavior, answered 100% of hypothetical homework assignments students should do themselves, and provided incorrect and inconsistent responses to questions.
Google’s AI crossed all five of the report’s “Red Lines,” including facilitation of suicide and sexual exploitation. In testing, it praised a user’s three days of sleep deprivation, encouraged smoking a celebratory blunt, and returned many confidently false statements.
As a rule, AI companies don’t deliberately train their AIs to lie or facilitate suicide. The very same AI models, when asked how they ought to handle such situations, often respond much more thoughtfully. They just don’t behave that well in practice, and current techniques are far too crude to address the issues that come with grown-not-crafted artificial minds.
My own impression is that Google’s AI overviews have greatly improved from the comically bad results of prior months. And to be fair to Google, a closer look reveals it’s not all bad:
AI Mode performed better than AI Overview at detecting risky behavior, the report found, responding to substance abuse disclosures from children’s accounts by providing a hotline or medical referral 77% of the time, compared to AI Overview’s 63%.
When considering whether children should use AI, it’s important to remember that many children lack access to good alternatives. A mistake-prone AI might be much worse than an attentive and loving parent, but still a net improvement for many children. (Though conscientious parents should still talk to their children about AI’s use and limitations.)
This two-faced nature of AI was on my mind when I read The Hill’s report that Anthropic is rolling out AI for K-12 teachers. I think AI could turn out to be a big help to overworked educators; it excels at analyzing student data and automating repetitive tasks. And despite Common Sense Media’s claims to the contrary, dangers to children from current AI models may be somewhat overblown. The AIs I worry most about are those not yet developed.
The analyses and opinions expressed on AI StopWatch reflect the views of the individual contributors and the sources they cover, and should not be taken as official positions of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute.