Feds need to bring in social media and AI protections for kids, B.C. AG Sharma says | #childpredator | #kidsaftey | #childsaftey

VICTORIA — British Columbia’s attorney general says if the federal government doesn’t bring in protections on social media and AI chatbots for children, then the province will look to follow Manitoba with its own regulatory regime.

Niki Sharma says parents know firsthand of the devastating impacts of social media platforms and AI chatbots on children, and the artificial intelligence link to the Tumbler Ridge shooting where eight victims died is just one example.

The shooter in Tumbler Ridge used the ChatGPT chatbot in ways that drew concern from some staff at its maker, OpenAI, but the firm did not alert police before the killings in February.

Sharma says she wrote to the federal government after OpenAI didn’t report the suspected dangers posed by shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar, reinforcing B.C.’s call for clear national guardrails.