Senator Hawley Questions Jay Bhattacharya On The Scientific Dangers of Kids Using AI

[00:00:00] I'm wondering how closely you've looked [00:00:01] at the effect of social media, big tech, [00:00:04] social media, and AI on children's [00:00:07] health. And I submit that this is be [00:00:10] increasingly becoming a public health [00:00:12] crisis. Here's what I'm thinking. I've [00:00:14] heard from parents who've testified [00:00:16] before me and other committees that I [00:00:18] chair that their children have been led [00:00:20] to experiment with suicide and [00:00:23] ultimately self harm and ultimately in [00:00:25] many instances sadly carry out plans for [00:00:28] suicide at the behest of AI chatbots. [00:00:32] The data on social media and children's [00:00:35] mental health, children's physical [00:00:36] health is astounding. Is NIH here's my [00:00:39] question. Is NIH studying the effects of [00:00:41] social media including AIdriven social [00:00:44] media on children? Are are you looking [00:00:46] at that linkage from a health [00:00:47] perspective? [00:00:47] >> I I I've seen those reports also and as [00:00:50] a parent myself tremendously concerning [00:00:52] to me. Uh um the uh NICD, the National [00:00:55] Institute for Child Health Development [00:00:56] has a program on this uh although on the [00:00:59] specifically on AI uh and suicide. I'd [00:01:02] have to look to see. But you, you know, [00:01:03] that that that's a focus to make sure [00:01:05] that our children grow up in a country [00:01:07] where they where they where they're not [00:01:08] exposed to those kinds of dangers, and [00:01:10] we're going to have excellent science on [00:01:12] that. If we don't already, we will I [00:01:13] will we'll make sure that to to uh focus [00:01:15] on it. [00:01:15] >> Good. We we desperately need scientific [00:01:17] focus on it. We need good science on it. [00:01:19] We need good data. And I will just tell [00:01:20] you as a parent, I've got three children [00:01:22] of my own, uh three pretty small [00:01:24] children. And when I talk to my fellow [00:01:25] parents and when I look at the numbers, [00:01:26] I mean, in a recent study, 84% of [00:01:28] parents said that they were very [00:01:30] concerned or at least somewhat concerned [00:01:32] about the effects of social media on [00:01:34] their children. And when you talk to [00:01:35] parents who have had chat bots urge [00:01:38] their children to harm themselves, harm [00:01:41] family members, harm parents, or heaven [00:01:44] forbid, take their own lives. This is a [00:01:46] crisis, and it's not an isolated crisis. [00:01:49] It is a systemic crisis in every school [00:01:52] and I dare say in almost every home [00:01:54] across the country. I think we need to [00:01:56] have a comprehensive look from a data [00:01:58] perspective and a science perspective of [00:01:59] what this is doing to our children so we [00:02:01] can figure out what we're going to do to [00:02:02] protect kids and protect parents. a [00:02:04] entirely with the senator.