Between deep fakes, SEO tactics, and fake news, AI’s grip on the internet is getting out of hand: AI-generated content is dominating real estate on the internet, leaving human-made content and real photographs in the dust. This growing problem has seen incidents such as one website spewing out AI-generated content and filling Google to the brim with fake celebrity photos, while others are using AI to generate articles that are riddled with hallucinations, Vice says. This type of content is so ubiquitous that it’s spamming the internet and altering Google search results, a recent study showed.

Tech companies and lawmakers are trying to play catch-up and quash fake AI-generated content: Google recently tightened up its spam policy and tweaked its search algorithms for better-quality results, Vice notes. Meanwhile, a bipartisan US senator crew dropped a bill aiming to outlaw AI-generated explicit content without consent. Targeting the recent wave of Taylor Swift deep fake provocative images on X.

Meanwhile, on the benevolent side of the AI-sphere: An AI tool is thwarting AI’s ability to steal art. University of Chicago researchers have developed Nightshade, an AI tool that makes it impossible for AI crawling the internet to steal art without artists’ permission, according to VentureBeat. The tool, which is offered without charge, racked up around 250k downloads in just five days.

How does it work? Nightshade, which is designed to be an “offensive” tool, essentially prevents AI training models from correctly identifying images by “subtly [altering] the image at the pixel level so other AI programs see something totally different than what’s actually there.” For example, if an image or artwork depicts a cow in a green field, Nightshade applies a layer of shading that makes it unidentifiable for AI — or might make an AI model “see a large leather purse lying in the grass.”

Social media execs are under fire for the risks their products pose to teens.Yesterday, the CEOs of Meta, TikTok, Snap, Discord, and X testified before the US Senate, coming under fire for what the committee calls an online child safety crisis.

The families of teens harmed by social media took to the stands to demand accountability and regulation. Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg apologized for the bullying, harassment, and facilitated drug purchases that led to the deaths of many young people, but was ultimately nullified in the eyes of the attendees when exposed internal Meta documents estimated teen users’ life value at USD 270.

What changes were being discussed? A proposed bill hopes to stop harmful ads and posts discussing addiction, eating disorders, and self-harm from appearing on children’s feeds. Another act called for criminal prosecution of people circulating others’ private images online without their consent. Lawmakers also hope to pass a bill to force social media companies to crack down on the increasing child abuse material on their platforms.

Despite the publicity and the grand speeches, there are no signs that the hearing will yield tangible regulations. While this was a uniting issue for both the Republican and Democratic senators, it seems that the hearing only produced tears rather than meaningful action from the US Senate. Still, child-safety and anti-big tech advocates hope that the hearing will kickstart efforts to regulate social media firms.

Until substantial measures are taken to enforce child safety online, here is how you can ensure your little ones’ safety online.

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