Parents’ Phone Habits Tied to Teen Gaming
What? A word to parents: The more you scroll, the more your teens will game. At least, that was a finding from a recent study of more than 7,000 U.S. teens. The study found a consistent correlation between parents’ screentime habits and their kids’ gaming habits.
So What? Not only did parents’ increased screen use lead to their teen gaming more, but it also led to teens playing more titles geared for mature audiences, which can include violence and other problematic content unsuitable for teens. However, that same study also found that parents who track and set limits on their kids’ screen time “saw their teens gaming less and playing fewer violent or adult-themed titles down the road.”
Now What? It’s no secret that children often imitate their parents. So, when parents have developed less than ideal screen habits, it increases the risk for kids to do the same. As a parent, consider your screen use—how much time you spend on a screen, where and when. Lead with the example you want your child to follow. And stay involved: When moms and dads aren’t paying attention, it’s a lot easier for their kids to sneak by mature content.
AI Being Used to Confuse Cybercriminals
What? We’ve talked a lot about how artificial intelligence is being used by scammers to better defraud their victims. But is AI also the key in the fight against this new age of fraud? Apate, an Australian scam disruption and intelligence company, has been leveraging AI to divert and disrupt scammers by creating bots that can pose as fraud victims. Apate’s AI bots mimic human behavior to trick fraudsters into spending their time talking to them instead of a real person.
So What? “A minute that a scammer is talking to a bot or an [AI] agent is a minute where you’re probably saving hundreds, if not thousands of possible people being reached out to by that exact same scammer,” Apate CEO Dali Kaafar says. And, as it turns out, AI is pretty good at wasting scammers’ time.
Now What? Will these AI interventions prevent all scams? Unfortunately, no. But hopefully, the implementation of AI will strengthen anti-scam efforts moving forward. In the meantime, stay vigilant, and be sure to teach your family to recognize and avoid scams.
New AI Models Getting Worse at Blocking Explicit Content
What? From a positive AI story to a negative one: Researchers at White Circle, a corporation that conducts safety testing, found that the new AI models released by Google and OpenAI are more susceptible than previous models to being used to create explicit images, despite supposed safeguards.
So What? What’s more concerning, White Circle was able to break through these models’ protections using “off-the-shelf tools, available online for anyone to download.” And it’s not that these new models are less sophisticated than older versions: The reality seems to be a matter of prioritization. As White Circle noted in their findings of these new generative models, “safety has been deprioritized in favor of capability.”
Now What? Unfortunately, favoring capability over safety is an all-too-common issue when it comes to AI tools. The rush toward the cutting edge and the profitable can leave users in the lurch and provide opportunities for bad actors to exploit a given model’s vulnerabilities. For parents, if you let your child use generative AI models, be mindful of the prompts they’re using and the content they’re creating. And perhaps encourage them to use older versions that are less likely to create explicit content.
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