Swedish insurance company introduces Laika 13, the world's first AI teenager, created for mental health education

Posted on 2023 Oct,12 | By ArabAd's staff

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Swedish insurance company introduces Laika 13, the world's first AI teenager, created for mental health education

Now launching Laika: the worlds first AI who suffers from several psychological disorders. Many researches have proven the severe negative effects social media can have on the mental health of children and adolescents. One in five teenagers spend all their free time on social media. Despite clear connections to mental health problems, the time spent on the platforms continues to increase. But what happens if you spend 100% of your time on social media as child? A Swedish insurance company has introduced Laika, the world's first AI teenager, who has been raised by social media. The purpose is to prevent mental ill-health among young people. Sweden-based Stendahls is the creative agency behind the idea.

Laika is the world's first AI teenager, raised on an intellectual diet strictly pulled from social media such as TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram. Her resulting personality and character showcase the effect overusing social media might have on young people. An inhumane experiment designed to explore what happens to a person when real life experiences are replaced with endless scrolling. The campaign is run by the Swedish insurance company Länsförsäkringar, who has previously launched several notable campaigns to counteract online bullying and negative body image.

Therefore the aim for the Swedish insurance company throughout this campaign is to highlight the potential dangers for actual humans of spending excessive time on social media.

Laika 13 was developed by a team of AI specialists, a neuroscientist and a psychology professor. Created to reflect at typical Swedish child, Laika was then trained and exposed to content from social media channels most popular among children between the ages of 12 and 16.

Initially, the phone was just a source of entertainment-- a tool to connect with her friends, play games, and sometimes watch videos. But once she discovered the world of social media, she was captivated and over time, Laika was drawn deeper and deeper into the digital world. Today at 13, her entire life revolves around social media.

With her intellect shaped by content from social media, Laika suffers from several psychological disorders such as anxiety, depression and shows strong signs of narcissism and aggression when you chat with her. Her self-image is very low, and she shows suspicion towards anyone who chat with her. She might manifest harmful thoughts and ideas and long, unsupervised exposure to her might prove detrimental. Therefore, access to Laika has been limited to journalists, teachers, or researchers with the expressed purpose to take part in, and drive, the discussion on the effects of social media and can use this experiment to further the debate and purpose.

As such, Laika 13 is a part of the company’s sustainability ambitions, working to promote well-being, prevent mental ill-health among young people and contribute to a health and strong society. Länsförsäkringar has applied for funding in order to expand the experiment and provide a long-term tool for the benefit of both research and schools.

“Laika will be used to educate Swedish students in mental well-being. She will function as an interactive way to emphasize and expose the dangers of social media in an engaging way. Researchers and selected media representatives will also be given the opportunity to interact with her,” says Lisa Bragée, Sustainability Manager at Länsförsäkringar Göteborg and Bohuslän.

Laika 13 will be used for mental health education in schools. The project also included the introduction of free counseling for all the company’s customers with teenage children.