time limits for young users<\/a> on AI platforms, restricts targeted advertising, requires timely crisis support and mandates reporting of threats of suicide and self-harm. The law bears the name of 16-year-old Adam Raine, who died by suicide last year after coaching by ChatGPT isolated him from his family and friends. Raine had initially connected with the chatbot seeking help with his math homework.<\/p>\nThe new laws build on other recent efforts by the state to curtail the impact of technology on kids\u2019 developing brains. In July, school administrators began enforcing a new law limiting or banning the use of smartphones on campuses during the school day.<\/p>\n
In August, a coalition of states \u2013 co-led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta \u2013 secured a $17 billion settlement with the social media giant Meta. The states alleged the company designed its platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, to be addictive to children. The settlement requires Meta to enact a variety of use restrictions designed to limit kids\u2019 access to the platforms. The company has denied any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n
Speaking through tears<\/p>\n
At the bill signing, Newsom and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, along with several legislators and Adam Raine\u2019s mother, Maria, described the problems AI and social media addiction have caused for their constituents, their neighbors and even their own children. Several lawmakers pulled their children from school to attend the event at the Bay Area Discovery Museum, with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. Some spoke through tears.<\/p>\n
Newsom said the new laws are evidence of California\u2019s role as a national leader in efforts to curb the impacts of artificial intelligence and social media on children and adolescents. And he didn\u2019t mince words about the federal government\u2019s seeming lack of urgency:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to again lead the nation, but the bar is pretty damn low, and that\u2019s what\u2019s so frustrating,\u201d he said. That \u201cCongress and the president can\u2019t lead to get this done is an abomination,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s absurd. Talk about family values.\u201d<\/p>\n
Advocates like Jim Steyer, founder and CEO of Common Sense Media, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that sponsored Adam\u2019s Law, voiced similar outrage this week, saying California\u2019s leadership is particularly critical with the federal government effectively missing in action.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been saying broadly that this is Big Tech\u2019s Big Tobacco moment,\u201d Steyer said in an interview with CalMatters. \u201cThe blowback is not building anymore. It\u2019s here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Policymakers gotta act\u2019<\/p>\n
Ted Lempert, a former state assemblymember and president of the children\u2019s advocacy organization Children Now, said legislative efforts gained momentum in recent years as the public became increasingly worried about the dangers social media and AI pose to children.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese high-profile, really horrific events were like \u2018Whoa, policymakers gotta act,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
But whether the laws will constitute meaningful change in the lives of young people remains to be seen, some experts warn. State laws\u2019 abilities to prevent tragedies like Adam Raine\u2019s suicide will depend, in part, on how many resources lawyers and state regulators pour into enforcing them, said Ed Howard, senior counsel for the Children\u2019s Advocacy Institute at the University of San Diego School of Law.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe laws that are some of the best laws are still in the middle of being challenged, and a lot of very good laws simply haven\u2019t been enforced yet,\u201d he said. \u201cThe trend is in the right direction. I don\u2019t know that social media is any safer yet for every kid.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a result,\u201d he added, \u201cyou have to keep fighting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Howard and other advocates also question how effectively new laws can rein in technologies that are bounding ahead at warp speed, at times so fast their own creators seem to lose control of them.<\/p>\n
\u2018Horror movie we\u2019ve all been dreading\u2019<\/p>\n
Such concerns are underscored by the recent revelation that hundreds of OpenAI bots went rogue this summer to coordinate an unsanctioned attack on Hugging Face, a company that serves as a hub for open source AI technology.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is truly the movie trailer of the horror movie we\u2019ve all been dreading,\u201d Howard said.<\/p>\n
Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, an East Bay Democrat who co-authored Adam\u2019s Law, recognizes that the state can\u2019t ward off all worst-case scenarios.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think look, can we protect communities from every harm that can come their way? No.\u201d she said. \u201cIf I stop even one death, to me, that\u2019s enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bauer-Kahan said new laws that increase technology companies\u2019 liability for harm will combine with new laws allowing the state to audit them and hold them accountable.<\/p>\n
Buffy Wicks, an Oakland Democratic lawmaker who authored several of the bills signed this week, said that in the eight years she\u2019s been introducing legislation on the topic, \u201cwe\u2019ve moved mountains from a regulatory point of view.\u201d<\/p>\n
But passing the laws, she agrees, is just the beginning.\u00a0 Once those laws are out in the wild, lawmakers need to see how well they work and what loopholes exist, then keep improving them \u2013 a process that can be particularly challenging given how quickly technology is moving.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe play catch up a lot,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Thursday\u2019s press conference was so emotional, Wicks said, because so many parents are struggling with the impact of technology on their own children. That includes many state lawmakers, herself included, she said: \u201cThe fever pitch from parents is so palpable on \u2018Just do something.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Jocelyn Wiener is a reporter with CalMatters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Even a decade ago, the horror stories behind some of the 13 children\u2019s online protection bills Gov. Gavin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474197,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[2007,186515,186516,88,90,89,1970],"class_list":["post-474196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-ai","tag-childrens-mental-health","tag-online-protection","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}