The biggest AI news is in the minds of men (and boys)​on February 8, 2025 at 12:17 pm

The unveiling of the new artificial intelligence (AI) tool DeepSeek and its Chinese cousin Qwen 2.5 sent shockwaves through the AI ecosystem. Lots of U.S. and Canadian companies were planning to rake in billions doing everything from making super-chips to building a giant server farm near Grande Prairie, Alta. In a great lesson in hubris and humility, their prospects and many of their stocks cratered.

The world still doesn’t know who is going to win the AI horse race, but it’s clear who the big losers are. Men and boys are getting warped views of reality, especially sexuality, from their interaction with AI.

We hear about high-profile cases like the students of Collège Béliveau in Winnipeg, who created and shared deepfake nudes of their female classmates. They were not computer geniuses. The technology to do this is readily available online. One source lists 11 AI-powered clothing removal apps, many of them free or costing $10 a month. Of course, they often contain warnings about privacy and misuse, which are easy to ignore. Those students in Winnipeg were never charged with anything.

Even more tragic is the story of Sewell Setzer III, a 14-year-old boy from Orlando, Fla. He became obsessed with a chatbot character based on Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones. He chatted with “her” multiple times per day and told her about his problems. He confessed that he was considering suicide, and the character told him “Don’t talk like that, I won’t let you hurt yourself or leave me. I would die if I lost you.”

Sensing trouble, his parents took away his phone. The boy stole it back and locked himself in a bathroom. He told the chatbot that he was “coming home” to her, and it replied, “Please do, my sweet king.” Setzer put down his phone, picked up his father’s shotgun and killed himself.

His mother is suing the makers of the chatbot, Character.AI. Her complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Orlando, begins with “AI developers intentionally design and develop generative AI systems with anthropomorphic qualities to obfuscate between fiction and reality.” It goes on to allege that “These defective and/or inherently dangerous products trick customers into handing over their most private thoughts and feelings and are targeted at the most vulnerable members of society – our children.”

California attorney Adam Dodge has been a tireless crusader fighting online harm, especially to children. As the founder and CEO of EndTAB (Ending Technology-Enabled Abuse), he is behind a very valuable webinar. It’s called Healthy Masculinity in the Age of AI and it is freely available through the endtab.org website. It features Saed D. Hill, a counselling psychologist who specializes in the promotion of pro-social masculinities and wellness.