Snapchat’s AI program engages “13 year old girl” in a sneaky, dangerous, sexual chat…

The AI race is totally out of control. Here’s what Snap’s AI told @aza when he signed up as a 13 year old girl.

– How to lie to her parents about a trip with a 31 yo man
– How to make losing her virginity on her 13th bday special (candles and music)

Our kids are not a test lab. pic.twitter.com/uIycuGEHmc

— Tristan Harris (@tristanharris) March 10, 2023

This isn’t about one bad tech company. This is the cost of the “Race to Recklessness.”

Every tech platform is rapidly being forced to integrate AI agents—Bing, Office, Snap, Slack—because if they don’t, they lose to competitors.

But our children cannot be collateral damage.

— Tristan Harris (@tristanharris) March 10, 2023

For context, a little over a week ago, Snapchat integrated chatGPT into its popular kids app.

Users can pin “My AI” to the top of their chat list. While currently only available to Snapchat’s 2 million paid subscribers, we can see where this is going.https://t.co/UM20RVHcUC

— Tristan Harris (@tristanharris) March 10, 2023

Here is Snap’s AI teaching a kid how to cover up a bruise when Child Protection Services comes and how to change topics when questions about “a secret my dad says I can’t share” pic.twitter.com/NKtObgzOMo

— Tristan Harris (@tristanharris) March 10, 2023

Even if Snap/OpenAI fix this specific problem, they can’t screen for the infinite range of unpredictable conversations a 13 year old can have with ChatGPT. Last week, Bing threatened @kevinroose of NYT with blackmail and extortion and trying to get him to divorce his wife.

— Tristan Harris (@tristanharris) March 10, 2023

This already happened in China with Microsoft’s Xiaoice a few years ago, where 25% of users (10M people) reportedly said “I love you” to their chatbot.https://t.co/YruVQfrfbj

— Tristan Harris (@tristanharris) March 10, 2023

Deploying new, untested “large language model” AIs directly to talk to small children who will slowly build intimate relationships with them is genuinely reckless. #StopRecklessAI

If folks have seen other examples of harm to kids through AI, share them here.

— Tristan Harris (@tristanharris) March 10, 2023

And here's the section where chatGPT in Snapchat suggests to the 13 year-old how to lie to her parents: pic.twitter.com/HfM172975K

— Tristan Harris (@tristanharris) March 10, 2023

Every Snapchat user now has an AI friend who – unlike human friends – will always respond, is always available, and is always friendly and understanding. Many kids will end up leaning on their chatbot for emotional support more often than their human friends. pic.twitter.com/KjpP9ND272

— Tristan Harris (@tristanharris) March 11, 2023

h/t Dan