Australia says it may go after app stores, search engines in AI age crackdown
NY Post
Australia’s internet regulator said it may push search engines and app stores to block artificial intelligence services that fail to verify user ages after a Reuters review found more than half had not made public any steps to comply by a deadline next week.
The warning reflects one of the most aggressive efforts globally to rein in AI companies, which face a growing number of lawsuits for failing to stop — and even encouraging — self-harm or violence while researchers caution that such platforms are more harmful to youth mental health than social media.
Australia in December became the first country to ban social media for teenagers, citing mental health concerns, prompting an outpouring of world leaders saying they would do the same. The country now says it is spearheading a similar crackdown on AI by putting age restrictions on the content people can access with the technology.
Beginning March 9, internet services in Australia including search tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and lesser-known companion chatbots must restrict Australians under 18 from receiving pornography, extreme violence, self-harm and eating disorder content or face fines of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars ($35 million).
“eSafety will use the full range of our powers where there is non-compliance,” a spokesperson for the commissioner said, including “action in respect of gatekeeper services such as search engines and app stores that provide key points of access to particular services”.
OpenAI and companion chatbot startup Character.AI have faced wrongful death lawsuits over their interactions with young users, while OpenAI acknowledged this week it deactivated the ChatGPT account of a teen mass shooting suspect in Canada months before the attack, without telling the authorities.
