Alabama shielding children from evolving online risks 'like trying to nail Jello to the wall'

Alabama officials are grappling with the negative consequences of artificial intelligence and social media platforms that can lead some users to isolation, addiction, abuse and self-harm.

The Study Commission on Artificial Intelligence and Children’s Internet Safety heard presentations Wednesday on ways to regulate algorithms and legislation to help stem the proliferation of AI-generated images that victimize real people.

Rep. Ben Robbins, R-Sylacauga, co-chair of the commission, said the evolution of AI, data collection, and market forces make it a challenge to find the right path for regulations.

“It’s like trying to nail Jello to the wall,” Robbins said after the two-hour meeting.

Experts told the commission about algorithms that are more likely to benefit the user long-term by the content they recommend, rather than causing short-term or emotional dependance.

The experts talked about the need for states to establish “red lines” and accountability for companies that collect data on online users, including children, for profit.

“It’s evolving so fast,” Robbins said.

“The red line is the language on the behavior, not necessarily the exact tool today, in 2026, because whatever software, algorithmic code that’s used today will not be the same used tomorrow,” Robbins said.

The commission was established to investigate innovative ways to protect children’s health and safety in the face of widespread artificial intelligence and social media programs.

It is developing a report that it will submit by Nov. 1.

Amy Winecoff of the Knight-Georgetown Institute gave the commission a presentation on algorithms, or recommender systems, and some guidelines on how to make those safer and more geared to long-term benefits for users.

Winecoff said the systems need to be transparent about the metrics they use to recommend content to users, offer choices to users, and make assessments of their long-term impact on users that are subject to independent audits.

Caroline Friedman Levy and Christabel Randolph of the Center for AI and Digital Policy spoke to the commission.

Levy said Alabama is further along in trying to protect children from AI than most states because of the FOCUS Act, passed by the Legislature last year to restrict the use of cellphones and devices in classrooms.

Overall, though, Levy said the absence of regulations on AI is “astounding” considering the potential harm and contrasting that to all the regulatory hoops required to open a sandwich shop, for example.

Levy said platforms collect data on users, including children, without their consent, and sell it on a “largely invisible market.”

She said one of the main dangers is AI software that promotes emotional dependance by relating to the user as a companion.

Levy said it’s not hyperbole to say that tech companies are “manipulating children.”

Dr. Randy Brinson, president and chairman of the Christian Coalition of Alabama, said AI is a powerful tool with enormous potential for good.

But he said the state has to confront the damage caused by the misuse of the technology.

Brinson said the state needs to hold AI platforms accountable for the way they guide and instruct users on how to create erotic or pornographic AI images from innocent photos that are posted on social media.

“It takes seconds, costs nothing, and requires no skill,” Brinson said.

Brinson said the images are used for harassment and extortion and traded among pedophiles. He said the damage is not lessened because the images are synthetic.

“You can’t tell a 14-year-old girl it doesn’t count because it’s not real,” Brinson said.

Brinson urged the committee to recommend passage of a bill that would hold liable the developers of platforms that facilitate, enable, or encourage the generation of those images.

The bill, by Rep. Ben Harrison, R-Elkmont, passed the House 104-0 this year but ran out of time in the Senate.

Robbins said it’s too early to say what the commission’s Nov. 1 report will include and noted that the panel has heard a wide range of opinions.

“I think that we will end up at some point with a recommendation on what I just mentioned - creating some guidelines on how to protect children. And that will be from everything from artificial intelligence to data collection,” Robbins said.

He said a rise in rates of depression, anxiety, and loneliness among teens is disturbing.

“What has changed is the technology, the access, the ability to use it, connect with others,” Robbins said.

“There are positives to it, but the negatives have been the drawbacks and what it’s done to children.”

He said evidence indicates a decline in academic performance because of an overreliance on AI.

“When you rely solely on that technology, you begin to lose your own cognitive abilities to reason,” Robbins said.

“It seems hard to believe that we have more information and knowledge now than we’ve ever had, but people are actually performing worse on tests,” he said.

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