Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of AI social media usage on people under the age of 18.

The Online Safety Bill has now finished its parliamentary passage and will receive Royal Assent in the coming weeks.

The Bill will ensure that technology companies take more responsibility for the safety of their users, particularly children. It has been designed to be tech-neutral to keep pace with emerging technology. The Bill will tackle harmful AI generated content on user-to-user services when that content is placed on the service by a user, or if an AI bot is itself placed on a service by a user and interacts with other users.

In addition, the forthcoming AI Safety Summit and the work of the Foundation Model Taskforce will focus on risks created or significantly exacerbated by the most powerful AI systems, especially where they pose a threat to the most vulnerable in our society, such as children. It will draw on a range of perspectives both prior to and at the event itself to inform these discussions.