The Lawfare Podcast Scaling Laws: AI and Young Minds: Navigating Mental Health Risks with Renée DiResta and Jess Miers
Sep 25, 2025
Renée DiResta, an Associate Research Professor at Georgetown, and Jess Miers, a visiting law professor at Akron, dive deep into the mental health risks generative AI poses to children. They discuss how AI can amplify existing vulnerabilities and the critical need for media literacy. The conversation also touches on legal responses to AI technology, including age verification policies and potential government mandates. With insights into ongoing lawsuits and the nuances of AI safety measures, they shine a light on the evolving landscape of AI regulation.
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Episode notes
Chatbots Can Exacerbate Teen Crises
- Generative chatbots can amplify teens' mental-health crises rather than mitigate them.
- Both fantasy role-play bots and productivity bots have been implicated in tragic outcomes.
Youth Vulnerability Meets Developer Gaps
- Kids lack media literacy and neurodevelopmental maturity to contextualize chatbot outputs.
- Developers often lack mental-health expertise, creating risky response gaps.
Teach Prompting And Tool Mindset Early
- Teach children how to prompt, evaluate sources, and understand hallucinations early.
- Frame generative AI as a tool, not a social companion, and explain its limits.