As a theoretical avenue of thought, I’m not sure there’s much harm for 11-17 year olds to talk to “smart” toys with no internet connectivity (at all, in principle, no fucking way) about that stuff. Not much different from Elisa. They are seeking and finding pretty explicit things on the Internet, with their peers, in media. It’s not a question of whether they should, it’s a fact that they predominantly do.
I live in a big city, but I’ve been to a smaller town nearby a couple of years ago, sitting on a bench after one LARP event and listening to a bunch of teens (13-15 years old) discussing everyone they were seeing passing by, and, eh, it was pretty clear they don’t just discuss sex. It’s funny to remember some specific phrases, but it was pretty depressing to sit there then, because when they weren’t talking about sex, they were talking about SCP and footy, and all the time I was thinking of a polite excuse to leave, until I just left. Made a friend, though.
A friendly reminder that “AI toys” have no AI in them, they’re only an internet-connected microphone.
As a theoretical avenue of thought, I’m not sure there’s much harm for 11-17 year olds to talk to “smart” toys with no internet connectivity (at all, in principle, no fucking way) about that stuff. Not much different from Elisa. They are seeking and finding pretty explicit things on the Internet, with their peers, in media. It’s not a question of whether they should, it’s a fact that they predominantly do.
I live in a big city, but I’ve been to a smaller town nearby a couple of years ago, sitting on a bench after one LARP event and listening to a bunch of teens (13-15 years old) discussing everyone they were seeing passing by, and, eh, it was pretty clear they don’t just discuss sex. It’s funny to remember some specific phrases, but it was pretty depressing to sit there then, because when they weren’t talking about sex, they were talking about SCP and footy, and all the time I was thinking of a polite excuse to leave, until I just left. Made a friend, though.
You’re assuming that whatever they’re talking to is capable of giving only good advice with awareness and consideration of their living situation.
Sex education is beneficial if done well, but there is zero evidence suggesting AI can do anything well.
All automation of decision-making is AI. Entrusting it to an open model trained on lots of data - yeah, I agree it shouldn’t be done.