Join the Tech Impact and Policy Center on April 7th from 12PM–1PM Pacific for a seminar with Robbie Torney.

Stanford affiliates are invited to join us at 11:40 AM for lunch, prior to the seminar.  The Spring Seminar Series continues through May; see our Spring Seminar Series page for speakers and topics. Sign up for our newsletter for announcements. 

About the Seminar:

As AI products rapidly integrate into the lives of kids and teens, from educational tools to companion chatbots, the technology industry faces fundamental questions about how to design and deploy these systems responsibly. Drawing on three years of risk assessments conducted by the nonprofit Common Sense Media across major AI platforms including ChatGPT, Gemini, Meta AI, Grok, and numerous AI companion services, this talk examines what we've learned about the gap between current AI design and kid and teen safety. This presentation will outline our approach for evaluating developmental appropriateness in AI systems. Through concrete examples from platform evaluations, we’ll explore patterns we find in safeguarding young users, including in providing “advice” on a range of topics, mental health topics, and more traditional challenges around age appropriate content. These findings reveal structural challenges in how AI products are currently conceived and deployed for young people, from design assumptions that ignore developmental differences to business models that prioritize engagement over safety. Finally, we’ll discuss implications for AI development, deployment, and policy, including the role of age assurance, emerging regulatory approaches, and what product standards for developmental appropriateness might look like in practice.
 

About the Speaker:

Robbie Torney (BA '09, MA '10) is Head of AI & Digital Assessments at Common Sense Media, where he leads the organization's AI safety research and risk assessment methodology. Under his leadership, Common Sense has developed and conducted systematic risk assessments of major AI platforms including ChatGPT, Gemini, Meta AI, and Grok, as well as emerging categories like AI companion chatbots and AI toys. His work spans research, policy advocacy, and industry engagement. He has testified before Congress and the California Legislature on AI safety for youth and works directly with technology companies to shape industry standards. His research focuses on evaluating AI systems through frameworks that center developmental appropriateness and child safety by design. Prior to joining Common Sense Media, Robbie spent over a decade in education leadership in Oakland, California, bringing practical understanding of how technology affects children and families to questions of AI policy and responsible development.