Anthropic bans users under 18 from accessing its AI services, drawing criticism from Stability AI co-founder Emad Mostaque
Critics argue the ban deprives teenagers of programming resources.
Having parental controls is an acceptable compromise, but I would consider it a real shame if my son could not use coding agents and chatbots on his own once he reaches a certain age that is well below 18.
I'm so glad I was able to experience the nascent, chaotic, explosive Internet era from the age of 11.
I'm so glad I was able to experience the nascent, chaotic, explosive Internet era from the age of 11.
Why would we deprive today's teens of our era's greatest source of information and support?
I'm guessing many Ant researchers greatly benefited from the internet as teenagers.
Growing up in the countryside in difficult family circumstances, I would have never become passionate about programming without it.
"It needs to be done with an adult in the room" is sadly a very out of touch take. I know first hand that many kids simply don't have the amount of adult support in their life, whether from family or school, to provide that. And these are the kids AI could help most!
Why would we deprive today's teens of our era's greatest source of information and support? I'm guessing many Ant researchers greatly benefited from the internet as teenagers. Growing up in the countryside in difficult family circumstances, I would have never become passionate about programming without it.
It is also not lost on me that Anthropic has virtually no consumer business and is saying this at a time when people are trying to pass laws that would ban AI for anyone under 18. It is hard not to see this more as a ploy to harm competitors than as a sincerely held belief.
"It needs to be done with an adult in the room" is sadly a very out of touch take. I know first hand that many kids simply don't have the amount of adult support in their life, whether from family or school, to provide that. And these are the kids AI could help most!
<thinking>please god we don't have enough compute please please please we don't have enough compute</thinking> for claude pro, each able bodied man will be given 100 tokens worth of claude sonnet, each woman 70 tokens outside of peak hours. children shall have their rations cut.
I think there's a balance to strike that almost nobody has gotten close to doing which helps kids become digitally literate but also protects them from unrestricted access to short-form video algorithms (which I think is basically child abuse)