A pre-teen girl sees an innocuous advertisement for a weight loss program on a social media platform. She's intrigued. After all, she wants to look like all those slender influencers on her feed. Little does she know, the ad—generated with artificial intelligence (AI) technology—was carefully targeted to her based on her AI-analyzed browsing habits and "private" conversations. Once she clicks on the ad, her feed becomes a relentless barrage of AI-curated content promoting harmful diet strategies—including deepfake videos from beloved influencers. Her online world morphs into a dangerous echo chamber, magnifying her insecurities and spiraling her into depression.

A boy with an innocent curiosity about guns peruses social media and clicks on a few videos about them. He stumbles upon some extremist content. He's interested and continues exploring. Seduced by sophisticated AI algorithms, he becomes both the consumer and creator of violent content—losing hours, then days, to his new obsession. He withdraws from his family and friends and lives on social media, where he becomes just a number to meet a tech company's quarterly key performance indicators (KPIs).

An 8-year-old exploring YouTube happens upon one of her favorite influencers discussing mental health. From there, an innocent quest for understanding about mental health leads her into a labyrinth of content that steadily feeds her anxiety and confusion about depression.........

© Newsweek