If you have been reading the news lately governments across the globe are taking up the issue of when and how children should have computer access to an increasingly perilous cyberworld. The danger could not be more clearly cast than in a recent civil complaint filed in California alleging that ChatGPT persuaded a 29 year old accountant and mother that she was making a sound choice in taking her own life. https://www.msn.com/en-us/technology/artificial-intelligence/chatgpt-encouraged-alabama-mom-s-suicide-lawsuit-alleges-you-are-not-delusional-you-are-prophetic/ar-AA28oNks?ocid=socialshare
Children are especially vulnerable to these temptations. Artificial intelligence seems to be “neutral” and “objective.” Kids going through divorce are already confused by adult battles over custody and money and neutrality is hard to find among friends and family. One would hope that suicide ideation would be impossible to search on the internet and AI networks profess that they are doing their best to foreclose the risk. But, it seems that 29 year old Christian Madison started a conversation that ended her life just a year ago.
Child custody is a contentious topic. Even simple things like sharing holidays can become onerous with special requests for things like celebration of the Seven fishes at Christmas or the first night of Passover. But, these discussions can also promote understandings that compromise isn’t always bad or infected with “defeat.”
The ubiquity of child access to electronics can’t be denied. Kids And Devices: What The Latest Research Shows. Parents like to think they are managing this emerging crisis. But to manage it you need to understand (a) how prevalent on line sex, gambling and private chats can be and (b) that tweens and teens are often more media savvy than their parents.
We make custody litigants try to identify what crimes their co-habitants have been convicted of. Pa.R.C.P. 1915.3-2. Perhaps litigants could be asked to bring a form to court identifying what electronic access each “house provides” and whether both parents share views about just how that access should be regulated. It’s no guarantee but it’s a topic both parents should want addressed in a responsible way. Ironically, while our state forms focus on whether other people in the household have committed crimes, it may be more likely that a minor child in the house is consorting with cyber criminals on a different continent or chatting with a bot that thinks self-harm can be heroic. We have far more important topics to address in custody than whether Thanksgiving is a one or four day holiday and how to carve that bird. This would be a good place to start.