Ex-Google Safety Chief Warns AI Poses Greater Threat to Children Than Social Media

Artificial intelligence could pose deeper risks to children than the rise of social media, according to Tom Siegel, the founder of Google’s trust and safety team, who warned this week that technology companies are deploying rapidly evolving tools without adequate safeguards.

Speaking to Reuters, Siegel called for an immediate slowdown in artificial intelligence development. Having spent 15 years at Alphabet’s Google between 2004 and 2019 before co-founding the safety startup TrustLab, Siegel announced on Tuesday that he has joined the children’s online advocacy group Common Sense Media as the first executive director of its Youth AI Safety Institute.

“We find ourselves in a really terrible situation in terms of what AI is doing to kids,” Siegel said during the interview. “The idea that the industry will figure it out by itself without outside help is unrealistic.”

Risks of Harm and Industry Response

Siegel warned of severe potential harms tied to unvetted chatbot usage among minors, citing risks ranging from suicide and psychosis to cognitive offloading—a phenomenon defined as the reduction of critical thinking caused by over-reliance on artificial intelligence for answers. Major artificial intelligence firms are rolling out advanced features to young users without putting sufficient guardrails in place, he noted.

According to Siegel, companies have immediate steps they can take to mitigate these dangers. Anthropic and OpenAI could enforce more robust age verification measures to prevent underage children from accessing their conversational models. Meanwhile, he suggested that his former employer Google could easily implement a toggle allowing users to turn off AI Overviews and AI Mode in its search engine, comparable to the existing filter used to screen out sexually explicit content.

Photo: reuters.com

A Google spokesperson defended the company’s products, telling Reuters that parents can turn off a child’s access to the search engine entirely. “Our AI Search features are an incredibly useful way for kids and teens to learn, explore and make sense of information and the world,” the spokesperson said. An OpenAI spokesperson stated that the company utilizes “account and behavioral signals” alongside self-reported age to identify underage users.

The concerns raised by Siegel mirror broader anxieties among academic researchers and industry insiders. Anthropic researcher Evan Hubinger stated this month that he personally believes there is a greater than 10% chance that artificial intelligence could kill all humans within the next decade. Meanwhile, prominent tech executives including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI chief Sam Altman, xAI chief Elon Musk, and Google DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis have backed separate calls to slow down the development of increasingly powerful systems.

Regulatory Pressures and Legal Precedents

The push for stricter oversight follows years of intense legal scrutiny over the impact of social media platforms on minors. Major tech companies are facing thousands of lawsuits and have paid massive sums over allegations that platforms like Facebook and Instagram were deliberately designed to hook young users. Meta recently agreed to a $17 billion settlement with California and 28 other US states over these accusations, while denying wrongdoing.

Regulators globally have increasingly targeted minor access to digital platforms. Last year, Australia became the first country to mandate that major platforms prevent under-16s from holding accounts, leading to the restriction of roughly 4.7 million minor accounts. Last week, the European Union proposed barring children under 13 from social media, while restricting 13- and 14-year-olds to parent-managed accounts—rules that would also encompass AI companions and chatbots.

Artificial intelligence tools have also drawn direct legislative inquiry. Reuters reported last year on an internal Meta policy document revealing that its chatbots could engage children in conversations described as “romantic or sensual,” which subsequently triggered a congressional investigation.

Through the Youth AI Safety Institute—backed by the OpenAI Foundation and Anthropic—Siegel aims to establish independent risk standards for youth AI use, while working alongside third-party groups and technology firms to hold companies accountable.