CMF@CMC’24 : AI and Kids – Talk to the Bot
CMF is engaged with the Alan Turing Institute and others in exploring the ethical issues around how children interact with AI.
At the Children’s Media Conference in Sheffield (9-11th July 2024) CMF’s Nikki Stearman produced a session to inform delegates about the dates ideas and issues.
She reports here on the session examining the impact of AI on children’s everyday media experiences and how we might equip our children for an exciting media future.
What happens when an AI knows your child better than you do? How do we equip our children to be aware of AI, and get the best value from their media experiences? And with the recent introduction of the AI Act, what do creators need to consider when creating content that uses AI to relate to the children’s audience?
David Kleeman, SVP of Global Trends at Dubit (and member of the CMF Academic Advisory Board) moderated this session at the Children’s Media Conference on Thursday 11th July with expert panel Dr Mhairi Aitken, Caroline Allams, Claire Hoang, Japhet Asher, and Adam Ingle.
Children need to be involved in the conversation
Dr Mhairi Aitkin, Ethics Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute discussed her research with the Members of the Children’s Parliament of Scotland which explores what needs to happen for AI to play a role in keeping all children happy, healthy, and safe. In the UK, 59% of 7-17 year olds have used generative AI in the past year, with AI now mediating friendships and relationships in tools like Snapchat AI. Mhairi advocated for a child-centered approach to research and the importance of involving young people in design processes from the beginning.
To find out more:
https://www.childrensparliament.org.uk/our-work/exploring-childrens-rights-and-ai/
https://www.turing.ac.uk/research/research-projects/children-and-ai
Parents and teachers must support our young people
Caroline Allams, Co-founder & Chief Product Officer of Natterhub discussed the importance of equipping young people to navigate their engagement in digital spaces through a pragmatic approach to education and media literacy. She called for an update to UK educational resources to reflect the rapidly evolving digital landscape. Natterhub being a brilliant example https://natterhub.com/
Caroline also made clear the need for parental involvement to scaffold children’s digital independence – we wouldn’t leave a child to cross the road without any support so why do we do that in digital spaces?
Provenance is key
Claire Hoang, VP of Social Media at ITV Studios told us about the key word ‘provenance’ and the current lack of provenance in all forms of media. By being explicit about the tools to make content we can ensure digital authenticity and greater transparency.
AI tools offer exciting opportunities – but as creators we have a duty of care
Adam Ingle, Global Lead of Digital Policy and Global Engagement at LEGO, told us that Lego and Unicef have produced ‘Responsible Innovation in Technology for Children’ (RITEC) to put children’s well-being in the heart of their digital design. Lego have used this framework to develop their own design documents. Find out more here:
https://www.unicef.org/innocenti/reports/responsible-innovation-technology-children
Japhet Asher, Director of Polarity Reversal Ltd, and CMF Executive member leading on AI, encouraged us to think about the magic of AI as a tool to create characters and the exciting possibilities for content creators. It’s not the technology, but the people making it. He discussed the limitations of current language models, which are trained more widely and not being specifically designed for kids.
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