By Faten Omar
KUWAIT: Experts have warned of social media platforms that use artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, which are very popular among users in the Middle East, especially Kuwait. The experts revealed that exposure to these platforms may lead to an increase in diagnoses of symptoms of schizophrenia and hallucinations among adolescents and children. It was believed that adolescents will be the most affected in the future as a result of the increased integration of AI in means of communication, entertainment and education.
For example, TikTok uses an addictive algorithm to hook teenage users in an "endless stream” of harmful content related to suicide, anxiety and depression. Kuwait Times spoke with teenagers to learn more. Teenager Hattan Fatafta affirmed TikTok’s new AI filter has left her peers addicted. The rapid rise of AI has made her and her friends experience hallucinations of believing in ghosts due to some filters that show you someone or something is in the same place as you. "One of the AI filters that TikTok made as a trend among teenagers and adults is to show someone else exists in the same room, which made us believe that we are being watched by some unseen creatures,” she said.
ChatGPT, the popular application of AI in smartphones today, is cause for more concerns, as it affects not only the psychology, but also creativity within people, especially adolescents, and increases dependency. Teenager Salma Zawaidah, who was a top student in her class, said: "ChatGPT was unfair to smart students who did their homework. Many students used it to get unfair grades, while teachers unfavorably compared regular homework to well-written artificial homework.” Noor Helmy noted AI suppresses teenagers’ sensory abilities and increases their isolation with screens.
"We may lose more and more the way of communicating with others in reality.” She affirmed that many teenagers are now in depression due to their isolation from the real world and living in an AI fantasy that allows them to be whoever they want whenever, mentioning AI filters in TikTok have many fantasy options that allow nerds and fan of any era to become the character they want to be.
"AI has prompted increased attention on our generation that excessively uses AI techniques for the purpose of entertainment and moving images and sounds, not only of the living but even of the dead, which can be easily experienced on TikTok,” Helmy pointed out.