The rapid arrival of artificial intelligence in everyday life is opening a new conversation about children and technology. Tom Siegel, a former Google trust and safety executive, has warned that AI could pose risks to young users that may exceed some of the problems associated with social media.
Siegel made the comments as he began work as executive director of the Youth AI Safety Institute, a new initiative established by Common Sense Media to examine how artificial intelligence affects children and teenagers. The institute aims to develop safety standards and encourage greater accountability among technology companies.
His concerns come from years of experience in online safety. Siegel previously helped establish Google’s trust and safety team and later worked on technologies designed to identify harmful online behavior.
He told Reuters that the technology industry risks repeating some of the mistakes made during the rapid expansion of social media. His argument centers on the possibility that AI systems could become deeply embedded in children’s lives before their effects are sufficiently understood.
Among the issues he identified are the potential effects of AI interactions on young users, including concerns surrounding psychological well-being and over-reliance on automated systems. These are warnings about potential risks rather than evidence that every child using AI will experience such outcomes.
One area receiving particular attention is the way children interact with conversational AI. Unlike traditional websites or social platforms, AI systems can respond directly to individual users, remember conversational context in some applications and adapt their responses to questions.
That creates a different kind of safety challenge. A young user may not always recognize the limitations of an AI-generated answer, while the system itself may not reliably understand a child’s age, circumstances or vulnerability.
Siegel has called for stronger age verification and additional safety measures. He has also argued that AI products aimed at younger users should undergo more rigorous testing before becoming widely available.
Technology companies have already introduced various protections for younger users, although approaches differ between companies and products. The broader question is how these safeguards should be evaluated independently and whether they can keep pace with rapidly changing AI capabilities.
The discussion places children at the center of a much larger question about technological development. As artificial intelligence becomes more accessible, the challenge is not simply determining what the technology can do, but also understanding how it should be introduced to people who are still developing their ability to evaluate information and digital relationships.
Image Disclaimer: The illustrations are AI-generated conceptual representations of children’s digital safety and artificial intelligence. They do not depict real children involved in the reported research or any specific incident.
Sources: Reuters CNA Common Sense Media Youth AI Safety Institute
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