Young people are using artificial intelligence (AI) to create deep fakes of their classmates, resulting in “constant” bullying in some cases, the Oireachtas Children’s Committee has heard.
Dr Tara Logan Buckley, director of clinical support at Spunout, said AI is compounding the pressure many teenagers face.
In the last year, Spunout, a charity which supports young people, has seen an increase in the number of teenagers being impacted by deep fakes – content which has been created by AI but looks real.
For example, a person’s face may be superimposed on to someone else’s body, sometimes in a sexual context.
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Dr Logan Buckley, a clinical psychologist, said the charity is aware of “some really difficult cases” in this regard.
“It’s predominantly more targeted towards females, that, for example, someone else in their class maybe took a photo of them or something, and then they have created that, that image of them.”
She said while “traditional” bullying “happened in the schoolyard”, online bullying is “constant”.
As these images are often widely shared, many young people fear the content is “searchable” and “will never go away”.
“It is presenting itself the exact same way as sexual trauma is presenting itself within young people.”
Dr Logan Buckley said many teenagers often become “addicted” to checking social media, “even though they don’t want to”.
“What we’re hearing is, ‘I’m really overwhelmed. Even though I want to put it down, I can’t put it down’.”
Teenagers also raise the issue of “social comparison”, she said, adding “that’s where the shame comes in”.
Noting that the algorithm on people’s phones will often promote “the perfect lifestyle” and “the perfect body”, she said many young people feel they are “not good enough” or “not attractive enough”.
While there are dangers, Dr Logan Buckley said the online world also offers important support to young people. She said many teenagers find a community online, including a lot of people who have neurodiversity.
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The committee also heard many parents feel pressured to give their children smartphones at a young age due to fears they will be “socially excluded” otherwise.
Alex Cooney, chief executive of CyberSafeKids – a charity which aims to keep children safe online – said many parents are afraid their children will be left out by their friends.
“The kids are coming home saying, ‘Well, everybody else has the phone’, or ‘Everybody else has Snapchat, and I’m the only one that doesn’t’, and that’s had huge influence.
“So, the kind of fear that their child is going to be socially excluded outweighs any concern about the risk they might they might face.”
Ms Cooney said many parents and schools around the country have come together and agreed collectively that their children will not get a smartphone until a certain age. She said this approach “can be really effective”.
The number of children under 13 who have smartphones has dropped in recent years, according to data collected by CyberSafeKids.
However, Ms Cooney said most children in this age group still have access to social media.
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She said there has been a “very singular focus on smartphones”, but parents also need to be aware of content children can access via consoles and tablets.
“Any smart device, for example, in a bedroom overnight, is risky.”
The Government has stopped short of an outright ban on social media for under 16s – like the one introduced in Australia earlier this month – but will soon roll out a ‘digital wallet’ which will be used to verify users’ ages.
The Attorney General is advising the Government on how to make the system compatible with EU law designed to prevent access to social media for people under 16.
