Google Plans To Roll Out Its AI Chatbot To Children Under 13

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times: Google plans to roll out its Gemini artificial intelligence chatbot next week for children under 13 (source paywalled; alternative source) who have parent-managed Google accounts, as tech companies vie to attract young users with A.I. products. "Gemini Apps will soon be available for your child," the company said in an email this week to the parent of an 8-year-old. "That means your child will be able to use Gemini" to ask questions, get homework help and make up stories. The chatbot will be available to children whose parents useFamily Link, a Google service that enables families to set up Gmail and opt into services like YouTube for their child. To sign up for a child account, parents provide the tech company with personal data like their child's name and birth date. Gemini has specific guardrails for younger users to hinder the chatbot from producing certain unsafe content, said Karl Ryan, a Google spokesman. When a child with a Family Link account uses Gemini, he added, the company will not use that data to train its A.I.

Introducing Gemini for children could accelerate the use of chatbots among a vulnerable population as schools, colleges, companies and others grapple with the effects of popular generative A.I. technologies. Trained on huge amounts of data, these systems can produce humanlike text and realistic-looking images and videos. [...] Google acknowledged some risks in its email to families this week, alerting parents that "Gemini can make mistakes" and suggesting they "help your child think critically" about the chatbot. The email also recommended parents teach their child how to fact-check Gemini's answers. And the company suggested parents remind their child that "Gemini isn't human" and "not to enter sensitive or personal info in Gemini." Despite the company's efforts to filter inappropriate material, the email added, children "may encounter content you don't want them to see."

This will go well

[jrnvk]

Or not. One of the two.

I'm 12 and what is this?

[Dr. Tom]

Show me a picture of a kitty

Johnny Long #5

[geekmux]

Google is releasing a product intended for children?

Given history, I’m looking forward to Johnny Long #5 at DEFCON showing us how this product isn’t for children anymore.

Chatbot to be pulled fifteen minutes later

[zephvark]

...when Johnny's nature report about beavers takes a sudden turn...

No calculator in early age

[billyswong]

We don't let children use calculators until certain age, after they have learnt all the basic math.

AI chatbots should be regarded similarly, with a higher restriction until a lot later than calculators.

Re:

[dvice]

We don't, but perhaps we should? It might make them better at problem solving and math in general.
https://mathsnoproblem.com/blo... [mathsnoproblem.com]

Will they be worse at calculating on paper? Absolutely. But does that matter?

Re:

[TurboStar]

If we restrict access to AI until children are educated enough to think for themselves, most people will die of old age never having used AI.

Re: No calculator in early age

[chthon]

Good.

Re:

[Fly Swatter]

Quite the commentary on our current state of parenting, isn't it?

And our current state of schooling doesn't even qualify to enter the conversation... too busy being a daycare center.

Re:

[alvinrod]

The next generation will be saying that no child needs to have the math co-processor augment installed in their head when they have a perfectly good AI chatbot they can use instead.

normalize

[tiananmen tank man]

i'm scared this will make it so kids will be normalized into talking with strangers online.

well aren't they just following the religious

[Growlley]

model , however they get them as young as they can,