Worth Your Time Revisted
Worth Your Time!
Resource Recommendations to Help You Parent and Mentor Most Effectively
Worth Your Time Updates
Occasionally I read or watch things related to prior Worth Your Time emails, but I don't want to devote full emails to them; however, I do think it's worth highlighting some of them to bring greater awareness of the problems, technological advancements, etc.
In June I wrote about the technology that can search online for someone (and their personal information) simply by uploading a picture of them. The October 8th edition of The Rundown AI describes the recent work of two Harvard students, who "just demoed a proof-of-concept system using Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses that allow the wearer to access personal information about strangers, raising major privacy concerns." Watch the students' video here that demonstrates the technology. While most people won't use this technology for bad purposes, the point is that this technology exists and will continue to advance - this is the world in which students will live. The Rundown AI explains that the demo "exposes how much privacy and surveillance are about to change in the AI age—and it is coming fast. If a couple of students can achieve these abilities with a pair of Meta smart glasses and publicly available tools, what will dedicated corporations and governments be capable of?" Adults need to continue talking with students about what they're posting online and what information can be discovered about them from their - and their friends' - posts. I recommend showing them the video of the Harvard students - a picture paints a thousand words - and discuss how someone could use their information in bad ways.
In August and September, a couple emails (available here and here) focused on the issue of porn, including deepnudes and nudify/undressing apps. Earlier this week, news broke about a scandal at the Lancaster Country Day School in Pennsylvania "after a single [9th grade] student created sexually explicit AI images of nearly 50 female classmates" and shared them in a chat room. LCDS is a private school (whose tuition is $25,000+) in a religious area in southeastern Pennsylvania - a school whose students are probably thought of as high-achieving "good kids." This article is a reminder that private schools, including Christian schools, are not immune from this problem - this is just a student who got caught. Parents and schools need to address this topic and its consequences with young people, including "good kids." Deepnudes are easily created and shared and are becoming normalized among students.
In early November, a Worth Your Time email focused on AI chatbots. Right around that same time, in a test by Laurie Segall from Mostly Human Media, a Character AI chatbot actually encouraged her to commit a school shooting. In addition, grief bots have been in the news lately. I'd recommend an article that's a little over a year old titled, "The rise of 'grief tech': AI is being used to bring the people you love back from the dead." Near the end of the article, the author discusses the question, "Is this a healthy coping mechanism for us?" Technology like grief bots will be normal to this generation, and most of them will not ask whether it's wise/helpful/healthy/biblical without the prompting and guidance of adults.
Finally, a couple weeks ago I wrote about how we need to help young people navigate college and career decisions as AI transforms every job field. A couple recent articles provide great examples of how students need to understand that the careers they're pursuing may soon look very different from what they're expecting. Check out the articles "Robot that watched surgery videos performs with skill of human doctor" and "ChatGPT beat doctors at diagnosing medical conditions, study says." While both of these focus specifically on medicine, examples like this can be found in any field.
I hope these updates help prompt further discussion with youth!