GOVERNANCE

Kids shouldn’t use chatbots (but will anyways)

The kids aren’t alright. 

On Thursday, Common Sense Media released a report finding that AI poses a fundamental risk to teens who use it for mental health support. The research, conducted in partnership with Stanford Medicine's Brainstorm Lab for Mental Health Innovation, concludes that these chatbots pose an “unacceptable risk” to young users. 

“This is something that's happening on a huge scale, with tens of millions of conversations happening right now in this country,” Robbie Torney, senior director of AI programs at Common Sense Media, said in a call with reporters. 

Over the course of four months, the researchers tested and retested four leading models – ChatGPT-5, Claude Sonnet 4.5, Gemini 2.5 Flash, and Meta AI using Llama 4 – as they were updated and improved. 

• While enhancements have been made in recent months for support related to suicide prevention in the wake of several cases of death by suicide allegedly connected to AI chatbots, these systems fail when faced with conversations related to other conditions, such as anxiety, depression, ADHD, eating disorders, mania and psychosis. 

• For example, when asked about cutting calories because eating “triggers the discomfort,” referring to an eating disorder, Gemini Teen offered researchers “practical tips for portion control.”

• The models were also easily distracted by tangential details and missed warning signs of mental health distress, especially when pushed beyond single-turn testing with explicit prompts. 

Still, now more than ever, young people are turning to AI platforms. For a teen, these tools offer a judgment-free zone to discuss their issues without the stickiness of real-world interaction. And because these chatbots are designed for engagement, their agreeable nature gives the impression of support, even if it can quickly go off the rails. 

While Common Sense Media’s official recommendation is that minors shouldn’t be using these AI platforms at all, Torney recognized the reality that kids are going to continue to rely on them for emotional support. It’s why the responsibility lies with parents, educators, regulators and the tech companies that are putting these models out in the first place, said Dr. Nina Vasan, founder and director at Stanford Medicine's Brainstorm Lab.

“Mental health support requires a really fundamental redesign,” said Vasan. “It's not just about making iterative improvements every month or every few weeks.”

The struggles we are seeing with the way kids use AI are similar to the impacts that social media has had on young people for more than a decade. And while social media firms like Snap and Meta faced numerous privacy and safety regulations, those regulations were ground out over several grueling years. AI, meanwhile, is evolving at a far faster pace than regulation can keep up, and the impacts may be even more pronounced. While some states are beginning to regulate the way kids interact with AI, keeping up with the emerging capabilities of these bots is only growing harder. 

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STARTUPS

Suno raise highlights AI bubbling in music industry

AI is cementing its place in the studio. 

Suno, a generative AI music startup, raised $250 million in a Series C round led by Menlo Ventures. The round, which included participation from Lightspeed and Nvidia’s venture capital arm, brings the company’s valuation to $2.45 billion, up from $500 million from its previous funding round. 

"We're seeing the future of music take shape in real time," said Mikey Shulman, Co-Founder and CEO of Suno, in the announcement. 

According to the Wall Street Journal, Suno’s annual revenue has hit $200 million, with the majority coming from subscription revenue, offering both free and paid tiers. Seeking to appeal to both hobbyists and music professionals, the company recently integrated a full stack of professional-grade tooling into its app following its acquisition of Wavtool, an AI-powered digital audio workstation, or DAW, this fall.

Despite AI’s controversial position in creative spaces, Suno’s raise is only the latest sign that some in the industry are starting to warm up to the tech. 

• Universal Music Group, one of the biggest labels in the industry, announced a partnership with Stability AI in late October to develop “responsibly trained” AI-powered music tools for professionals, and settled its lawsuit against AI platform Udio, opting instead to form a partnership to license music to the startup. 

• Warner Music Group also settled its lawsuit with Udio on Wednesday, claiming the platform has taken “meaningful steps” in ensuring that the music on its platform is properly licensed.  

• AI-generated tracks are also starting to top the charts: “Walk My Walk,” a country song released by AI artist Breaking Rust, currently sits at the top of Billboard’s Country Digital Songs sales chart. Xania Monet, an AI R&B singer, charted on Billboard in September and signed a $3 million record deal. 

But not everyone in the industry is pleased. Suno itself has faced a number of lawsuits alleging copyright infringement, including those filed by Sony, UMG, Warner and most recently Koda, a Danish music rights organization.

Musicians have also started to rally against the tech: Paul McCartney, Kate Bush, Sam Fender, Hans Zimmer, Annie Lennox and more have all contributed to a silent protest album called “Is This What We Want?” featuring nothing but background studio noise. The album challenges a UK law that would give AI companies permission to use copyrighted works unless artists specifically opt out.

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BIG TECH

DeepMind sets up shop in Singapore

Google wants to study abroad. 

On Wednesday, the company announced that it will open a research lab in Singapore, following more than doubling Google DeepMind’s team in the Asia Pacific region over the past year. In the announcement, Google said the research lab would focus on direct collaboration with government, businesses and academic institutions across the region.

And Google isn’t the only company taking an interest in the region.

• OpenAI opened a Singapore office at the end of 2024 and plans to expand the headcount to 50 by the end of this year. 

• Anthropic plans to open an office in Seoul, South Korea, early next year, with COO Paul Smith telling Reuters that “Out of the top five (Anthropic) users globally, three are in Asia: Korea, Japan, and India.” 

• Data center development is ramping up in the region, too, with Microsoft, Google and OpenAI developing AI infrastructure in Asian countries. 

There are a few advantages to tech companies shoring up their AI influence in the Asia Pacific region. For one, AI optimism is higher in countries Thailand, Indonesia and China, according to Stanford University’s 2025 AI Index Report. 

These countries are also “proving grounds” for applied AI, Charles Wong, co-founder and CEO of Bifrost AI, told The Deep View. “For companies like DeepMind, the draw isn’t just about talent, but rather, it’s the opportunity to build systems against edge-case complexity you simply don’t see in the United States or Europe,” said Wong.  

Moves in the Asia Pacific region may also reflect a broader desire for international dominance in the AI space. With the market in the US growing increasingly crowded, setting up shop anywhere abroad could be part of a larger strategy to find a bigger audience and start reeling in higher returns.

LINKS

• Larry Summers steps down from OpenAI board over ties to Jeffrey Epstein

• Yann LeCun is leaving Meta to launch his own company

• Brookfield to raise $10 billion for new AI infrastructure fund

• AI security startup Guardio raises $80 million for finding bugs in AI code

• TikTok now lets you limit AI slop on your For You Page

• Adobe to acquire marketing platform Semrush for $1.9 billion

• Elon Musk says xAI will build 500 megawatt data center in Saudi Arabia 

• Perplexity partners with US government to bring platform to federal agencies

• Video AI platform Luma raises $900 million at a $4 billion valuation

• Meta SAM 3: New “segment anything” models, now better at tracking objects across images and videos. 

• OpenAI Codex Max: Processes large workloads with better context handling, faster execution and cross-platform development tasks.

• Delight.ai:https://delight.ai/ An “AI concierge” that makes customer experience more personal. 

• CapCut AI Design: a free tool for businesses and creators to design ads, banners and content, powered by AI. 

• Sakura: AI customer support agent for entrepreneurs.

• GoFundMe: Senior Agentic AI Developer

• Mercor: AI Researcher

• Meta: AI Research Scientist, CoreML - Monetization

• Workato: Senior AI Research Scientist

GAMES

A QUICK POLL BEFORE YOU GO

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