By India McCarty
AI-generated children’s videos keep trending, but experts warn parents to stay on top of what their kids are seeing online.
“AI-generated content aimed at kids is becoming more common every day because the tools are cheap, accessible, and easy to use,” Scott Kollins, PhD, psychologist and chief medical officer at family online safety company Aura, told Parents. “The result is a flood of quick-to-produce videos designed to get clicks and ad revenue.”
For parents looking to avoid AI kids’ content, the first hurdle is figuring out what is actually AI-generated. Natalie Bidnick Andreas, an assistant professor of communication studies at the University of Texas at Austin, told Parents to be on the lookout for “robotic-sounding narration, lip-syncing that is slightly off, or animations that do not follow natural movement.”
Another sign? Channels that post new videos every day. That level of production usually points to a helping hand from AI.
Related: AI Comes to Your YouTube Recommendations
Forbes also reported on the different ways to identify AI-generated content, telling readers to watch out for “overly smooth or limited” facial movements and “slight distortions that can appear as pattern noise, flickering or unusual shifts in the background scenery.”
It’s important that parents and kids learn how to discern whether or not something is AI, as consuming content made by these tech tools can have long-term effects, specifically, AI chatbots.
“Chatbots aren’t required to sift through multiple sources and figure out what information seems trustworthy,” HealthyChildren.org explained. “They can misguide children or advise them to take dangerous actions based on scant knowledge of a given subject.”
AI chatbots also “don’t have a sense of duty” when it comes to children, so “they might give false, threatening, misleading, violent or overly sexual answers and advice to young users,” as they don’t understand they’re communicating with a minor.
So, what can parents do to help their kids avoid falling victim to AI-generated content?
Titania Jordan, chief parenting officer and CMO at Bark Technologies, encouraged parents to teach their children how to identify AI content, as well as fact-check any information they come across that might seem strange.
Additionally, Kollins advised parents to put parental controls in place and keep track of their child’s screen time, saying, “The key is creating a safe, judgment-free space for those conversations. This is new territory for everyone, but by normalizing those talks, you’ll help your family navigate it together.”
As AI-generated photos and videos become more prevalent online, it’s important that parents and children alike learn to tell the difference between what’s real and what’s fake.
Read Next: AI Comes for Kids’ Content Creators
Questions or comments? Please write to us here.
– Content: +2Share:
– Content: +3