Oliver Huang

Prepared for Boston Children's Hospital Digital Wellness Lab, this memo explains the regulatory landscape of AI and child tech products. Currently, the federal government has few regulations on the use of AI in child technology products. Lawsuits on AI chatbots, such as those involving Character AI, have made courts a regulator on AI and child tech products. In addition to lawsuits, state have proposed regulations for AI products, such as California’s LEAD for Kids Act. On a global level, entities, such as the European Union and the United Nations, also play a role in defining AI use with children.

Over the past year, political sentiment has pushed states to regulate social media use for children in the United State. We analyze 300 bills introduced by US state legislatures in 2024. We find that while Democratic- and Republican-controlled legislatures both introduced legislation related to social media, Republican-controlled state legislatures were more likely to enact such regulation.

Queer inmates are disproportionately represented in prisons. In a 2011 survey, around 16% of transgender respondents and 47% of Black transgender respondents experienced incarceration, despite making up only 2.7% of the population nationally. In total, 124,000 of those incarcerated in US prisons & jails identify as LGBTQ and 6,000 identify as transgender.

Social media has exploded in usage amongst children. 50% of parents state that their child has access to some type of social media, with 32% of parents reporting that their children aged 7 to 9 have access to social media. Three quarters of parents have shared the content of their children online.1 ...

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a global concern with diverse stakeholders worldwide, ranging from governments using AI for benign or harmful purposes to multinational tech companies pursuing AI dominance. Amid this complex landscape, ethical concerns related to human rights, privacy, and sustainability often go unaddressed. To tackle these challenges, there's a pressing need for a global framework and collaborative body for AI governance. The United Nations is working toward establishing a multi-stakeholder High-level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelli...

The up-and-coming technological development that will define the next few centuries of scientific advancement is not in Artificial Intelligence, but rather our understanding of the sub-atomic: quantum. The quantum revolution leverages new innovative understandings in science theory and engineering capability to create new solutions in diverse spaces from cryptography to physical materials. Quantum computers, which offer the real possibility of replacing classical computers for intensive tasks, have the potential to transform and optimise sectors from agr...