AI

Developed with input from a range of AI experts, the AI ratings system evaluates products against a set of “Common Sense AI Principles” that help the public to understand where these tools are using best practices—and where they may compromise human rights or data privacy, or perpetuate misinformation and unfair bias.

“Consumers must have access to a clear nutrition label for AI products that could compromise the safety and privacy of all Americans—but especially children and teens,” said James P. Steyer, founder and CEO of Common Sense Media. “By learning what the product is, how it works, its ethical risks, limitations, and misuses, lawmakers, educators, and the general public can understand what responsible AI looks like. If the government fails to ‘childproof’ AI, tech companies will take advantage of this unregulated, freewheeling atmosphere at the expense of our data privacy, well-being, and democracy at large.”

In the process of reviewing 10 popular apps on a five-point scale, Common Sense extracted the following insights about today’s AI landscape that will be useful for policymakers, educators, parents, and consumers.

“AI is not always correct, nor is it values-neutral,” said Tracy Pizzo-Frey, Senior Advisor of AI at Common Sense Media who helped bring this project to life. “All generative AI, by virtue of the fact that the models are trained on massive amounts of internet data, host a wide variety of cultural, racial, socioeconomic, historical, and gender biases – and that is exactly what we found in our evaluations. We hope our ratings will encourage more developers to build protections that limit misinformation from spreading and do their part to shield future generations from unintended repercussions.”

The ratings will also inform new legislative and regulatory efforts to keep kids safe online and to push for increased transparency from creators of these new products. “Lawmakers and regulators need an independent and highly respected third-party partner like Common Sense to ensure that they have trusted information to protect the public. We look forward to continuing to play this critical role with AI and other emerging technologies, just as we have done for years with the impact of media and other digital products,” Steyer said.

Common Sense will continue to publish ratings and reviews of AI products on a rolling basis. To learn more about Common Sense’s AI Ratings and Reviews, please visit www.commonsense.org/ai.