The founder of Google’s trust and safety team has called for a slowdown in AI development, warning that the tech industry risks repeating the mistakes of the social media era, this time with potentially greater harm to children.
Tom Siegel, former vice president of trust and safety at Google, told Reuters that the industry finds itself in a “really terrible situation” regarding AI’s impact on children, adding that expecting the industry to self-regulate without outside intervention is unrealistic. His comments come as social media companies continue to face lawsuits over alleged harm to young users, even as regulation struggles to keep pace with AI’s rapid development.
Siegel announced this week that he has joined Common Sense Media, a children’s online advocacy organisation, as the first executive director of its newly launched Youth AI Safety Institute, a research body assessing children’s AI use. The institute counts Anthropic and the OpenAI Foundation among its backers.
Siegel, who worked at Google from 2004 to 2019 before leaving over concerns that the industry was plateauing on safety, later co-founded the startup TrustLab before stepping down as its CEO to take on his new role. He said major AI companies are currently rolling out features to children without adequate safeguards in place, warning of severe potential harms ranging from suicide and psychosis to cognitive offloading, a decline in critical thinking caused by over-reliance on AI for answers.
Siegel suggested concrete steps companies could take immediately, including stronger age verification measures at firms like Anthropic and OpenAI to prevent underage users from accessing chatbots, and a simple toggle at Google to disable AI Overviews and AI Mode in search, similar to existing filters for explicit content. He acknowledged that such measures could affect short-term usage or profits, but argued that companies failing to act face greater long-term risk from lawsuits and regulation.
In response, a Google spokesperson said parents already have the ability to disable a child’s access to its search engine entirely, and described the company’s AI search features as a useful learning tool for children and teens. An OpenAI spokesperson said the company uses account and behavioural signals alongside self-reported age to identify underage users, while acknowledging that no age-assurance method is perfect. Anthropic did not respond to a request for comment.
At Common Sense Media, Siegel said a top priority would be developing independent safety standards for AI tools, comparable to crash testing for cars, though he acknowledged their effectiveness would depend on the willingness of AI companies to cooperate.
(Source: The Indian Express)
