What are the Dangers of Cyber Predators and Artificial Intelligence for Kids during Winter Break?

In a new Pinellas County partnership aimed at protecting children from online predators that is being described as “historic,” the Juvenile Welfare Board (JWB) is bringing together law enforcement, schools and child-welfare leaders to confront what they say is an escalating digital threat — and giving parents a free tool to help.

JWB Interim CEO Michael Mikurak announced Monday that the organization will offer every parent and caregiver in Pinellas County a free, one-year, bilingual subscription to Parent ProTech, an online training platform that explains emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, and how predators exploit them

During JWB’s press conference, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said they’re on track to investigate more than 100 child pornography just in the county alone by the end of the year.

Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said investigators frequently see cases escalate quickly. Experts also said children spend more time on their devices during school breaks, like those on the horizon over the next few weeks. 

Risks particularly grow with children spending copious amounts of unsupervised time online, Gualtieri said.

“Once they view that child pornography, it builds from there, and they begin reaching out, contacting kids, grooming kids,” Gualtieri said. “Then they contact them. Before you know it, we have a really, really bad situation.”

Pinellas County currently has about 1,800 registered sex predators and offenders, many of whom reoffend through online platforms. That reality has left parents frightened, Gualtieri said, especially as technology evolves faster than adults can keep up.

“They don’t know how Snapchat works and all these other things that these kids are like this, sitting in a restaurant on it talking about it,” he said. “Some of it is basic stuff like what are you doing and who are you talking to, but the parents have no familiarity with the breadth, the scope of what’s out there and what these kids have access to. They need to know what it is before they know how to control it.”

JWB’s new countywide subscription to Parent ProTech will focus heavily on artificial intelligence — an area where educators say risks are climbing sharply.

“Students using A.I. Chatbots as emotional companions and relationship substitutes and the alarming rise across the nation where these tools have encouraged self-harm and advised children to hide things from their parents,” Ashby Green, chief financial officer of Parent ProTech said.

“We need to educate without assuming an A.I. Chatbot can do all the things for us,” Kevin Hendrick, the Pinellas County School Superintendent, added.

The Juvenile Welfare Board (JWB) of Pinellas County is fully funding the program to ensure access for all families.

“Lots of children are being protected and supported by their grandparents who have no clue,” JWB Interim CEO, Michael Mikurak, said. “They’re barely able to use their phones, let alone think about what’s being used on the computers.”

Law enforcement is urging parents to be especially vigilant this holiday season, when many children receive devices like video game systems, computers or smartphones that allow them to communicate with strangers.

The launch of the program comes as Gov. Ron DeSantis promotes what he calls an “A.I. Bill of Rights,” aimed at countering what he described as an unregulated rise in artificial-intelligence dangers.  Florida’s legislative session begins in January.

See the full news coverage as originally published at https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/local/pinellascounty/pinellas-county-parent-protech-historic-online-children-protection-online-predators/67-f2f4d125-29d2-4143-8c6a-0999e33c7a64