{
  "id": 12301375,
  "title": "A reckoning on social media addiction came late for many kids. Will AI safety be different?",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/06/a-reckoning-on-social-media-addiction-came-late-for-many-kids-will-ai",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-10-06T04:16:22.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Economic Times Tech",
    "slug": "economic-times-tech",
    "url": "https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/a-reckoning-on-social-media-addiction-came-late-for-many-kids-will-ai-safety-be-different/articleshow/134722797.cms"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "It took years for U.S. states to reach an accord aimed at improving child safety on social media this summer. Meanwhile, a new generation of children is increasingly engaging with artificial intelligence (AI), technology that is advancing at a rapid pace and the full extent of its potential risks for young people and their development remains to be seen.\n\nMeta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, agreed to changes to its social media platforms and added enhanced safety measures in an $18 billion settlement. This settlement represents progress in addressing the known dangers of social media for children, according to Kristin Bride, a parent advocate who fought for social media reform after losing her teenage son to the platform.\n\nWhile social media companies have started implementing some safety features, such as age assurance measures and restricted experiences for minors, experts argue that the most important lesson from the social media safety efforts may be to act sooner on mitigating AI's potential harms for kids. Dr. Dana Suskind, a professor of surgery and pediatrics at the University of Chicago, warns that society should not \"sleepwalk into this next tech revolution\" with AI.\n\nDespite some similarities between social media and AI risks, such as mental health impacts and data privacy concerns, AI poses unique dangers for children. Children can interact with AI through chatbots, use AI-powered toys, and receive AI-generated content on social media platforms. AI can also affect children's brain development, while social media tends to dominate their attention.\n\nAI companies have been more proactive in introducing safety features compared to social media companies, possibly due to heightened regulatory scrutiny over social media's impact on children's mental health. OpenAI launched teen accounts on ChatGPT with restrictions in August, while Meta only introduced teen accounts on Instagram four years later in 2024.\n\nHowever, applying the same restrictions to AI as those implemented for social media is challenging due to the different ways children engage with AI and its potential benefits. While AI can be used for tutoring and legitimate homework help, there are also concerns about excessive use, cognitive offloading, and the formation of unhealthy relationships with AI chatbots.\n\nIn contrast to the slow progress on social media regulation, some AI legislation targeting children's safety issues has gained bipartisan support in Congress. However, the overall pace of AI regulation remains slow, highlighting the need for more urgent action to protect children from potential AI risks.",
  "summary": "When Meta agreed to changes to its social media platforms and enhanced safeguards in an $18 billion settlement, it made progress by \"getting at what we've known for years\" about the dangers, said Kristin Bride, a parent advocate who has fought for social media reform since the death of her teenage son. \"How are we going to get at what we don't know is coming?\"",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Winnipeg Free Press",
        "title": "A reckoning on social media addiction came late for many kids. Will AI safety be different?",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/05/a-reckoning-on-social-media-addiction-came-late-for-many-kids-will-ai",
        "published": "2026-10-05T07:01:02.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}