The focus on AI safety disasters ignores everyday harms
MIT Technology Review Sam Hiner, Emma Leiken
Opinion — commentary, not a factual news event.
The article argues that focusing AI safety policy on preventing worst-case harms lets companies keep shipping products that cause ongoing everyday damage to young people’s habits and relationships. It cites that a third of teens now discuss serious matters with AI companions instead of other people. It calls for regulating beyond minimum safety—requiring evidence AI improves learning and critical thinking, banning companion designs that imply consciousness or love, and enforcing independent scrutiny of impacts on thinking and relationships.
Why it matters
Consider what passes for success in technology policy. An AI company promises that its chatbot will not encourage suicide. A social media platform makes it more difficult for children to buy fentanyl. These are important protections, and they should have existed all along. But companies can clear these low bars while continuing to make products…
