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Creativity Squared: On A.I. Chatbot Safety for Kids

Dear Creativity Squared Collective —

Hope this finds you well wherever in the world you're reading this!

We’ve seen that A.I. chatbots can be dangerous for vulnerable adults, causing A.I. psychosis. This month it’s become undeniable:

A.I. chatbots are not safe for children, hard stop.

I’ve said this before in previous newsletters, but children should not be allowed to use these A.I. chatbots unsupervised for their own safety — they’re just too dangerous.

This past Tuesday, there was a Senate hearing on “Examining the Harm of AI Chatbots.” Parents of the two children who died by suicide at the hands of Character.AI and ChatGPT, 14-year old Sewell Setzer III and 16-year old Adam Raine, both spoke on the chatbots’ encouragement and dangerous interactions with their children that led to their tragic suicides.

Meta’s leaked documents on allowing children to have romantic conversations with A.I. chatbots also came up in the hearing. As of right now, there’s no way for parents to have any control over Meta’s chatbots or turn them off, exposing children to completely inappropriate content for their ages.

It’s good to see the US begin to take the risks seriously. Internationally, there’s been meaningful movement. Last month, we saw Brazil take an important step to protect kids and demand that Meta remove A.I. chatbots that simulate sexual conversations with children through a judicial order. We’re also seeing Australia taking measures on A.I. chatbots that encourage suicide or hold sexually explicit conversations. They haven’t minced their words that they pose a “clear and present danger” to children. As a country, they’re introducing more stringent digital restrictions, including a ban on social media for children under sixteen years old.

Here in the US, Common Sense Media, which also spoke at the Senate hearing, shared that nearly three in four children have used an A.I. companion app while only 37 percent of parents know that their children are even using artificial intelligence. Their stated recommendation is “that the peril outweighs the potential of A.I. companions — at least in their current form. Our findings reaffirm our earlier recommendation that no one under 18 should use these platforms.”

We’ve seen over and over again that these platforms prioritize profits over people, even over our children’s well-being. There were also two other Meta whistleblowers who came forward this month — former Meta researchers Jason Sattizahn and Cayce Savage testified that Meta buried evidence of child abuse in VR. They told Congress: "Meta is aware that children are being harmed in VR" but "purposely turns a blind eye to this knowledge" because recognizing the problem would force them to remove underage users, harming engagement numbers. One of the harms that Meta tried to bury is dangerous interactions with sexual predators!

While an unexpected voice on this, I do agree with Senator Hawley who shared: "These companies cannot be trusted with this power. They cannot be trusted with this profit. They cannot be trusted to do the right thing. They are literally taking the lives of our kids."

There’s a reason why I champion Responsible A.I. — one big one is to protect the next generation. We are aware of the harms associated with social media. We’re seeing the harms of A.I. companion chatbots unfold before our eyes — and we can course correct. We need a multi-pronged approach, and it begins with raising awareness about the harms of these chatbots for kids.

Our children and their futures deserve better care than what the current tech industry is offering.

Don’t miss your opportunity to connect with Big Kitty Labs: exclusive to this newsletter, they’re offering a free software strategy session and bonus blueprint — a $2K value! Book your free call now with their A.I. expert developers to gain clarity on how to transform your idea into a business breakthrough: https://bigkittylabs.com/offer 

Two shameless plugs: book me as a speaker for your next event and pre-order my forthcoming book on the Imagination Age today!

Until next week, here’s to playing in the playground of possibility to manifest more magic in 2025! 🪄✨

-Helen

Helen Todd (she/her)
Human behind Creativity Squared
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🗞 PRESS & PODCAST INTERVIEWS

📺 BBC News (June 5, 2025) — What is the future of digital clones? 

🎤 SXSW 2025 (March 11, 2025) “Farewell, Information Age — Welcome to the Imagination Age”:

🎙 Fulcra Dynamics podcast, “The Augmented Life,” with CEO Michael Tiffany (April 29, 2025) — The Imagination Age Is Here: Reclaiming Attention, Creativity, and the Future of AI with Helen Todd

🎙 AI Explored with Michael Stelzner of Social Media Examiner (November 5, 2024) — Using AI to Expand Your Ideas and Creativity 

🎙 Reflections with an Accent with Kike Calvo (October 18, 2024) — Unveiling AI's Creative Power with Helen Todd | Reflections with an Accent 

🏆 Cincinnati Business Courier’s Fire Awards (May 2025) — Finalist in “Disruptor” category for CincyAI for Humans

🏆 Aviatra Accelerators (September 5, 2024) — Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award 

📖 Movers & Makers Magazine (October 1, 2024) — Notables in AI + Print

📖 Cincinnati Magazine + Print (December 19, 2023) — Clone Wars + Print

🖥 SXSW Conference Community Newsletter (December 5, 2024) — SXSW 2025 Speaker Helen Todd talks Digital Twins

🖥 UC News (July 5, 2024) — Mayor Pureval, Rob Richardson lead ethical AI symposium

🖥 UC News (June 4, 2024) — Community of AI enthusiasts expands in Cincinnati

🖥 AdAge (April 15, 2024) — The Dalí Museum used AI to recreate Salvador Dalí’s voice—so you can ask him anything

🖥 UC Office of Research (February 28, 2024) — CincyAI and Digital Futures Partnership: Growing AI Talent in our Region & Beyond 

Listen: Ep.75 BBL Drizzy, A.I. & Manifesting A.I.: Discover How Will Hatcher Manifested His Way to a Time100 A.I. 2024 Honoree

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“If you're trying to play life safe, then I don't think you can fully experience life, you know. So you gotta go to places that you never been before, be in uncomfortable situations, because that's where the real growth is.” -King Willonius

Discover the magic of manifesting in a Creativity Squared exclusive interview from the ONLY comedian (and one of two artists!) who’s a Time100 AI 2024 honoree in the Innovators category: King Willonius. 👑 

His real name is Willonius Hatcher (his first name is pronounced “Will-OWN-ee-us,” and he also goes by Will). 2024 has been a breakout year for Will after his “BBL Drizzy” comedy song went viral — the first song made in collaboration with A.I. that became a cultural phenomenon, transcending genres and mediums!  

What do Burning Man, Dune 2, and the Frost Planetarium have to do with his story? Listen in to our 75th episode — and the last one for 2024! — to find out.

Creativity Squared interviewed Will live at the FilmGate Miami Interactive Festival XI, one of the top ten immersive festivals in the world! You’ll hear why it’s so special from the festival’s Head Curator, Co-Founder, and Executive Producer, Diliana Alexander. 

On opening night, the FilmGate Miami audience got a preview of the “BBL Drizzy Musical Dome Experience”. Next year, Creativity Squared will be back to see the full production and host another time capsule conversation with Will. 

Once you check out the interview, you’ll know that Will is just scratching the surface of what’s possible — he’s ahead of the entertainment industries, and is definitely one to follow!

Why did he make the Time100 AI 2024 Innovators list? 

For Creativity Squared Founder and Podcast Host, Helen Todd’s take, check out the dedicated blog post accompanying this episode (we recommend starting with this first 😉):

Our 2025 podcast season will kick off again in April, but we’ll keep the newsletter going between now and then, aside from the holidays.

Here’s to manifesting more magic in the new year — enjoy! 💝🪄✨

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