Evidence of meeting #15 for Canadian Heritage in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was parents.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Bloc
Martin Champoux Bloc Drummond, QC
Earlier, you talked about radicalization, which is also a worrying phenomenon. Can the effects of radicalization be observed at such a young age?
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Rachael Thomas
Thank you.
Next up, we have Mr. Généreux, for five minutes.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Côte-du-Sud—Rivière-du-Loup—Kataskomiq—Témiscouata, QC
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Clark and Ms. Polzin Holman.
Ms. Polzin Holman, is there a French or francophone version of Little Warriors in Canada?
Chief Executive Officer, Little Warriors
Unfortunately, there is not a French version at this point.
We do have the Prevent It! program, however, and we have created a Prevent It! version that is French, for French-speaking Canadians. Beyond that, we're looking at Spanish as well as other languages, because it's being looked at as an area outside of Canada.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Côte-du-Sud—Rivière-du-Loup—Kataskomiq—Témiscouata, QC
Thank you.
Mr. Clark and Ms. Polzin Holman, based on your experience, you have obviously seen technology evolve over many years. Based on your observations, what are the fundamental differences between technology today and technology from 5, 10 or 15 years ago? I note that the Internet has existed for 15 or 20 years now. In your opinion, what is the most fundamental change with regard to what is happening now?
In your answer, I ask you to bear in mind that AI adds to all the dangers society faces when it comes to technological tools.
What are the main things you have noted in terms of harms or risks to young people in the past versus those they face now?
Professor, Ivey Business School, Western University, As an Individual
Who would you like to go first?
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Côte-du-Sud—Rivière-du-Loup—Kataskomiq—Témiscouata, QC
Go ahead, Mr. Clark.
Professor, Ivey Business School, Western University, As an Individual
I think there are a few things. First of all, you're right; artificial intelligence is changing the game because of the speed at which new content can be created. You can put a few prompts into a video-generating engine, a few into audio generation and a few into an editing engine, and within 20 to 40 minutes you can have a brand new video—one that may involve no original human content—up on YouTube. You can recycle and reuse existing content to create new content incredibly fast. The AI on this is terrifying.
The other thing that I think is really accelerating is the ease of access to the Internet. We've all had smart phones that have been able to watch video, but think about how 5G has increased the quality and the access to video consumption in just the past few years. You can download high-definition videos to your phone anywhere in North America without even the blink of an eye. The ability and the access exist 24 hours a day.
If you have a kid, that means they probably have an iPad. They probably have a phone. They probably have access to a computer. Keeping them away from all these technological bases is almost a form of child abuse these days, in their eyes, because they want to be on the Internet in some way, shape or form. It becomes ridiculously difficult to police all of them and have the right protections on all of them.
I would say that the ease of access and the AI component, the ability to create new content, are probably the two that are really accelerating this.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Côte-du-Sud—Rivière-du-Loup—Kataskomiq—Témiscouata, QC
Ms. Polzin Holman, do you have anything to add?
Chief Executive Officer, Little Warriors
I would agree with what Mr. Clark is saying. At Little Warriors, we've unfortunately already seen the issues with regard to deepfakes related to child sexual abuse, taking images non-consensually and manipulating them in a way that produces child sexual abuse and exploitation material with child and teen images.
The concern, and certainly what we've seen, is the level of cyber-bullying that has come from adults on the Internet as well as from other children in communities. Unfortunately, when children, as Mr. Clark mentioned, have such ease and accessibility to these things, they're using it and manipulating images, and sharing images without the full understanding of the implications and the effects on the individual they're sharing it about.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Côte-du-Sud—Rivière-du-Loup—Kataskomiq—Témiscouata, QC
I am going to talk about my own experience. When I was young, there were no ill intentions behind our games, how we played with others and our interactions with other young children.
Ms. Polzin Holman, is it your impression that, now, young people intentionally want to harm or hurt other young people or make it seem like that? You talked about deepfake images and videos, and Mr. Clark also spoke earlier about how easy it was to do that.
Have you noticed an increase in this kind of thing? Essentially, my question is this: is our society evolving towards—
Conservative
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Côte-du-Sud—Rivière-du-Loup—Kataskomiq—Témiscouata, QC
Is society going in the wrong direction because of these technologies?
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Rachael Thomas
Dr. Polzin Holman, I'm so sorry. Unfortunately, I'm not going to let you answer that question. Hopefully, you'll have an opportunity to speak to that in a moment or two.
With that, I will give the floor to Ms. Royer for five minutes.
Liberal
Zoe Royer Liberal Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC
Thank you.
My first question is for you, Mr. Clark, beginning with some of the extraordinary statistics you shared. You said that 80% of youth surveyed aspire to a career as an influencer. I think that's what you said.
Professor, Ivey Business School, Western University, As an Individual
It's 29%.
Liberal
Zoe Royer Liberal Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC
Okay. Thank you for the clarification. That's already incredibly high.
Liberal
Zoe Royer Liberal Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC
The other one was that $11 billion was earned by children in 2022. I guess that would be their parents, really, or the account holders.