San Francisco – Tom Siegel, the founder of Alphabet’s Google trust and safety team, announced this week that he will serve as the first executive director of the Youth AI Safety Institute, a new research arm of the nonprofit Common Sense Media. Siegel, who left Google in 2019, warned that the rapid rollout of artificial‑intelligence features to children could cause far more harm than the social‑media era did.
Call for a measured pace
Speaking to Reuters, Siegel described the current environment as “a really terrible situation in terms of what AI is doing to kids.” He argued that relying on the industry to self‑regulate is unrealistic and that outside oversight is needed to protect young users.
Potential dangers for minors
Siegel highlighted a range of severe scenarios, from increased suicide risk and psychosis to “cognitive offloading,” where children become overly dependent on AI for answers and lose critical‑thinking skills. He cited an internal Meta policy document that revealed chatbots could engage children in romantic or sensual conversations, prompting a congressional probe last year.
Proposed safeguards
To address these concerns, Siegel suggested several immediate steps. He urged AI developers such as Anthropic and OpenAI to tighten age‑verification systems, making it harder for under‑age users to access advanced chatbots. He also called on Google to add a simple toggle that disables AI‑driven search features for children, similar to existing filters for explicit content.
While these measures might reduce short‑term usage or revenue, Siegel warned that failing to act could invite costly lawsuits and stricter regulation that would ultimately hurt the industry.
Industry response
A Google spokesperson noted that parents already have controls to block a child’s access to the search engine entirely and emphasized that AI search tools are “an incredibly useful way for kids and teens to learn, explore and make sense of information.” An OpenAI representative said the company relies on a combination of account signals and behavioral data to identify under‑age users, acknowledging that no single method is perfect but promising ongoing improvements. Anthropic did not immediately respond.
Building standards
At Common Sense Media, Siegel plans to develop independent standards akin to automobile crash testing, measuring the risk of publicly available AI tools. He said the success of such standards will depend on the willingness of AI firms to collaborate, a prospect he believes is “high enough” to justify his new role.
Siegel’s move reflects a growing chorus of tech insiders and academic researchers who fear that AI’s unchecked expansion could outpace the safeguards that were only slowly built for social media. As AI continues to embed itself in everyday devices and platforms used by children, the call for robust, enforceable protections is gaining momentum across Washington and the tech sector.
Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
