As a sexting AI primarily designed for adults possible security issues are raised given the age of younger users. Most platforms have age restrictions, but studies show 15% of children as young as twelve communicate on AI chat sites containing adult content (making it difficult for any type of verification method). These measures usually come in the form of age-verification self-declarations (which are only about 80% accurate, so that they might be outreached by a clever minor). Child development is a slow and evolving process, younger users who fail to safeguard their browsing experience from adult content are often preyed upon by explicit interactions that are not made for them; there needs better safety nets than the current protective measure simply will be ineffective without proper age verification.
AI sexting presents its own hurdles when it comes to age suitability and privacy risks. Since AI platforms gather a large amount of user data like conversation history and behavioral patterns to improve response accuracy. And securing this data is expensive, with companies on average spending $200K per year for cybersecurity. Yet, amidst these endeavors breaches still happen. In 2022 alone, thousands of conversations were exposed in a security incident—an alarming scandal that has raised privacy concerns among younger users who might not understand the full extent to which they are digitally laid bare.
DRAUGLIST: Mental health clinicians worry that AI sexting could distort young users' perceptions around what healthy relationships and intimacy look like. Those interactions of AI could have long-lasting effects on adolescents, since they are in a crucial formulative stage( Figure 1 ), which set the tone for their social and emotional decision-making through ages. According to clinical psychologist Dr. Amanda Lee, “ teens exposed to adult-like AI interactions may form warped ideas of relationships and confuse virtual closeness for authenticity.” A public imagination of AI sexting is more stylised than intimate sexual communication and this could have some ramifications for users who are even younger, with their development in the space offering them very early lessons about what to expect from intimacy.
Some AI-powered sexting services use filters and human monitoring to reduce the risks. The sentiment analysis tools do detect the language to be somewhat inappropriate with roughly 85% accuracy, and that has been enough for platforms like Whisper to begin flagging when users are breaking contact rules (again treating them as a minor) by interacting so much. And yet, even the most well-oiled system is not going to prevent medicinal content falling into inappropriately young ears. Stricter measures like requiring ID could be a step towards enhancing security making sure the only people using those products are adults.
The moral and developmental fears associated with ai sexting indicate that the technology can fulfil a role for adults as well, but only provided its usage is heavily restricted — replete with robust ID checking to keep underage users out.