Research Question: “How is modern AI affecting media targeted towards today’s youth and how does it harm their development?”
MLA Citation: Erdahl, Kent, “AI animation being used to target children on YouTube”, YouTube, uploaded by THK11, 29 Apr. 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upRBOIudoAE
Summary: In THV11’s news broadcast/interview titled “AI animation being used to target children on YouTube,” Kent Erdahl, Kate Knibbs, and Paulie Conway all spread awareness to the risks of AI tainting children’s media. Then, Erdahl teams up with editor Jacob Chargbonneau to provide a live demonstration of the little effort needed to create said media. CHATGPT provided a script in seconds, AI-technology provided a fake voice in minutes, and AI-assisted technology gave an actual animation to it all. Then, official commentary from YouTube is given, stating that “…altered or synthetic content only requires creators to disclose it.” Paulie Conway provides what some parents might be thinking, stating that parents, especially older ones might face difficulty discerning between what’s made by humans and what isn’t. Lastly, Kate Knibbs, both mom and editor from WIRED again provides her outlook on the situation stating that this is an issue parents want to be involved in, and overall the safety of their kids.
Rhetorical Analysis:
This source is a news broadcast combined with two interviews. The audience of this source is concerned parents with the rise of AI and/or what their kids are watching online. Throughout the video, Kent Erdahl, one of THV11’s reporters explains just how accessible artificial intelligence is becoming to the general public. Erdahl enforces his use of “ethos”, using the reputation of their news to reach out to editors like Jacob Charbonneau who are able to give the network a sample of how this technology is being used. Erdahl uses pathos, providing part of an interview with mother and WIRED writer Kate Knibbs. She represents worried parents when she states that “as a mom… I literally like, don’t wanna ever put youtube on for my kid anymore,” and “I do think that parents deserve to know whether the TV shows that their Children are watching are AI-generated or not without it.” Lastly, logos is seen as the news channel provides official statements from Youtube, and reports from AI-detection company Reality Defender. The news outlet THV11 is an affiliate of CBS News from Arkansas. According to MediaBiasFactCheck, they have a high credibility rating and feature mostly neutral wording in their content. Kent Erdahl, the main reporter featured in this broadcast, has an extensive career in journalism. He graduated from the University of Minnesota and worked at THV11 for over 8 years. Kate Knibbs is one of WIRED’s senior writers, thoroughly journaling about the rise of AI in society. She was a feature writer at “The Ringer” and a senior writer at “Gizmodo.
Notable Quotables:
- “…And if you’re wondering how often it happens, no one really knows because YouTube’s new guidelines for labeling altered or synthetic content only requires creators to disclose it. If the content seems real while clearly unrealistic content such as animation requires no such disclosure.” (Kent Erdahl)
- “All it took was a single sentence to prompt chat GPT to give us a script in seconds.
It took a few more minutes to find an AI voice.” (Kent Erdahl)
- “The worst thing I saw was probably an AI spongebob live stream that ended up being about um, testicle shaving, which was definitely not something you might want a young child to see.” (Kate Knibbs)
