'Projecting perfection': Humane technologist warns that new influencer trend could damage #kids' #mentalhealth

By Jon Michael Raasch , Ramiro Vargas | Fox News

Artificial Intelligence-powered influencers are the new #socialmedia trend. But there could be negative impacts from the perfect #influencers, a humane technologist warns.

Artificial intelligence-powered #socialmedia influencers are created to look like perfect people living the perfect life, which could damage younger users' #mentalhealth, a technology strategist told Fox News. 

Just like their human counterparts, AI influencers are online personalities that use their platforms to endorse brands and sell products. The catch is they're completely computer-generated. 

"A young boy who's seeing perfection like a blond, beautiful, artificial influencer is not going to be able to function properly in the world meeting real people," said Alexa Eden, who founded EDEN, a consulting firm that specializes in artificial intelligence (AI) training. "They're going to think that life is supposed to look that way and if it doesn't look that way, if a #woman doesn't look that way, they're not beautiful."

"With millions of data points, they know exactly what we're looking at, what we want to click on," she added. "We already know that it's going to disturb many #mental and #emotionalhealthcrises."

In recent weeks, Milla Sofia, an AI-generated influencer who portrays a 24-year-old #woman from Finland, has attracted significant attention, gaining over 100,000 followers on #TikTok and nearly 60,000 on #Instagram. 

The AI influencer's posts rack up comments from users swooning over the bot.

"Can we meet sometime for lunch?" an #Instagram user commented on one post. "You are a natural beauty," another user, this one on #TikTok, wrote.

Major #socialmedia platforms such as #Twitter, #Snapchat, #Facebook and #TikTok have been reported to cause #mentalhealthproblems in #teens.

"If I'm a young #girl and I'm growing up and I'm seeing specific influencers, AI influencers, look a certain way, that may have longer-term effects on how I perceive myself," Eden told Fox News. "We spent billions of dollars trying to reverse the detrimental impacts of airbrushing and photoshopping and plastic surgery, and now we're going to introduce something like this into the world?"

"When we see an AI influencer, it's taking everything that it knows about human psychology and projecting perfection from a marketing standpoint, from a psychological standpoint, from an emotional standpoint," Eden continued. "It makes sense that there is an entire trend of people tuning in to a fake life."

Spending time on #Instagram, #Facebook, #TikTok and other #socialmedia has been linked to #mentalhealthissues in #kids such as #depression, #suicide and #anxiety, according to a March report from the U.S. Surgeon General.

In 2021, #Instagram's #parent company, now named Meta, acknowledged its photo-sharing app can be harmful to #teen #girls' #self-esteem, according to company documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal. Researchers the tech giant tapped to examine its impact on young users' #mentalhealth over a three-year period found that 32% of #teen #girls who "felt bad about their bodies" said #Instagram made the issue worse, WSJ reported. 

#James Donaldson notes:Welcome to the “next chapter” of my life… being a voice and an advocate for #mentalhealthawarenessandsuicideprevention, especially pertaining to our younger generation of students and student-athletes.Getting men to speak up and reach out for help and assistance is one of my passions. Us men need to not suffer in silence or drown our sorrows in alcohol, hang out at bars and strip joints, or get involved with drug use.Having gone through a recent bout of #depression and #suicidalthoughts myself, I realize now, that I can make a huge difference in the lives of so many by sharing my story, and by sharing various resources I come across as I work in this space.  #http://bit.ly/JamesMentalHealthArticleFind out more about the work I do on my 501c3 non-profit foundationwebsite www.yourgiftoflife.org Order your copy of James Donaldson's latest book,#CelebratingYourGiftofLife: From The Verge of Suicide to a Life of Purpose and Joy

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#Sen.MarshaBlackburn introduced the Protect #Kids Online Act. She says it would help shield #children from toxic content promoted on #socialmedia platforms.

That same year, a bipartisan group of senators investigated #Facebook over its products provoking #mentalhealthproblems.

"#Facebook knew" it was causing children #mentalhealthproblems in #kids, #Sen.MarshaBlackburn told Fox News at the time. "But in search of that dollar and another dollar of profit, they did it anyway."

Eden was unsure whether AI influencers could have any long-term benefits.

"When we're not careful, we start to fall into a trap that has us believing that what's being presented to us is real," the humane technologist told Fox News. 

"It's definitely going to develop business, it's definitely going to have more viewer attention, it's definitely going to develop ad space," she continued. "But is it helping us in the long term?"

To watch the full interview with Eden, click here. 

Ramiro Vargas contributed to the accompanying video. Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.

Jon Michael Raasch is an associate producer/writer with Fox News Digital Originals.
https://standingabovethecrowd.com/2023/08/jamesdonaldson-on-mentalhealth-new-influencer-trend-could-prompt-mentalhealthcrises-suicide-as-users-tune-into-fake-life-tech-founder/