The (Future) State of Children in America: Reacting to President Biden’s State of the Union
POTUS shines spotlight on impacts of technology, AI on America’s youngest generation, a critical issue of our time
By Shakti Belway, Executive Director of the National Center for Youth Law
President Joe Biden, in his Thursday night State of the Union address, acknowledged one of the most urgent issues of our time: the rapid advancement of technology and the effect it has on our children:
“But there’s more to do to pass my Unity Agenda. […]
Pass bipartisan privacy legislation to protect our children online.
Harness the promise of A.I. and protect us from its peril.
Ban A.I. voice impersonation and more!”— President Joe Biden
The State of the Union speech is meticulously scrutinized, including every word, theme, and even punctuation mark. Inclusion of an issue in the State of the Union signals significant national importance of that issue to the American people and policymakers on Capitol Hill.
The advancement of technology, artificial intelligence and their effects on children certainly qualifies as being of significant national importance — potentially affecting every facet of our lives.
Technology and artificial intelligence are developing at breakneck speed. So fast that policymakers across the country are struggling to enact the necessary guardrails to protect us from the challenges and risks emerging daily.
The ban on AI voice impersonation proposed last night by President Biden acknowledges the sobering fact that AI technology is already being used to harass, bully, threaten, demean, and mislead. We’ve seen the profound harm such technology can have on students. AI is “fueling a new bullying outrage,” with students creating so-called “deepnudes” to victimize their peers. There is a proposed federal ban on so-called deepfakes, or digitally altered pornographic images, a move aimed at addressing cyberbullying.
Other concerns include the use of AI to violate the privacy rights of children. Worries have already been raised surrounding private equity monetizing the “educational journeys of tens of millions of children” by selling possibly discriminatory predictive analytics products to schools, as well as YouTube surfacing AI-created disinformation and conspiracy videos as educational content to kids.
Still, as President Biden noted, along with the “perils” is “promise” in AI.
This promise includes the use of chatbots to help youth struggling with their mental health, and even the creation of wearable devices, such as Blindsight (created by students), that “greatly increase the independence of the blind” through “integrating machine learning with haptic feedback.”
I was pleased to hear President Biden give the important issue of AI’s impact on children the attention it deserves in such a high-profile forum. His call for reform is a significant milestone in prioritizing child safety in the digital age.
I hope this milestone underscores for policymakers across the country the critical urgency of the issue, and I hope this serves as an impetus for them to quickly and responsibly address the urgent need for regulations. Without protections, the dangers of AI leave our children vulnerable to exploitation and harm.
For regulation to be effective, it must go beyond mere rhetoric; it must be comprehensive, proactive, rooted in principles of child safety and rights, including privacy, and give America’s youngest generation a seat at the table.
Having the issue referenced in the State of the Union is important. Centering the perspective of youth going forward is imperative.
By working together with those whose lives will be forever intertwined with this technology, we will develop regulatory and legal frameworks that create a safer and more inclusive online environment for our children, protecting and respecting their rights — now and into the future.
Shakti Belway is Executive Director of the National Center for Youth Law, a nonprofit organization that for more than 50 years has advocated on behalf of children, youth, families and communities. During her career, Shakti has worked in human rights advocacy, as a civil rights attorney, policy reformer and litigator, as an educator, and as a child and youth advocate.
