--- title: The focus on AI safety disasters ignores everyday harms description: AI safety legislation focuses on preventing catastrophic harms while ignoring everyday damage to how people think and connect, Sam Hiner argues. Google backed... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/the-focus-on-ai-safety-disasters-ignores-everyday-harms-cbg9k52ys twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: The focus on AI safety disasters ignores everyday harms | daily.dev og:description: AI safety legislation focuses on preventing catastrophic harms while ignoring everyday damage to how people think and connect, Sam Hiner argues. Google backed... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/the-focus-on-ai-safety-disasters-ignores-everyday-harms-cbg9k52ys og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/cbG9K52YS.png og:image:alt: The focus on AI safety disasters ignores everyday harms og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # The focus on AI safety disasters ignores everyday harms **[MIT Technology Review](https://daily.dev/sources/technologyreview)** · 6 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary AI safety legislation focuses on preventing catastrophic harms while ignoring everyday damage to how people think and connect, Sam Hiner argues. Google backed chatbot safety bills in several states that mandate protections against sexual content and self-harm promotion but have broad carve-outs, letting legislators claim a safety win while stronger bills on emotional dependency failed. A third of teens now discuss serious matters with AI companions instead of people, and MIT researchers found students using ChatGPT for essays showed weaker brain connectivity and 'cognitive debt' that persisted after the task. Hiner calls for companies to prove AI improves learning before classroom use and to be barred from building companions that pretend to be conscious or profess love. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What did MIT researchers find about students using ChatGPT to write essays? MIT researchers found that young people using ChatGPT to write essays showed weaker brain connectivity during the task compared to writing without AI assistance. Their evidence indicated that this reduced connectivity, described as 'cognitive debt,' persisted even after the task was completed, raising questions about AI's long-term effect on thinking skills. _Developers building AI writing tools can follow this cognitive-debt research on daily.dev as the evidence develops._ ### What loopholes exist in state AI chatbot safety laws backed by Google? Google backed bills in several states, including Nebraska, that mandate basic protections against sexual content and self-harm promotion in AI chatbots, but these bills include broad carve-outs that can exempt some of the most popular services. This let legislators claim a safety win while stronger bills aimed at preventing emotional dependency on AI companions failed to pass. _Teams shipping AI companion products can track how carve-out-heavy state laws evolve on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [AI Chatbot Safety Guardrails for Mental Health](https://daily.dev/posts/ai-chatbot-safety-guardrails-for-mental-health-zxdexvh7f) · IEEE Spectrum · 1 upvotes · 1 comments - [OpenAI adds new teen safety rules to ChatGPT as lawmakers weigh AI standards for minors](https://daily.dev/posts/openai-adds-new-teen-safety-rules-to-chatgpt-as-lawmakers-weigh-ai-standards-for-minors-b7rcb0wwa) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Amid Ongoing Rogue Incidents, Debate Over AI Safety Gets Real](https://daily.dev/posts/amid-ongoing-rogue-incidents-debate-over-ai-safety-gets-real-qus7pbbfo) · Dark Reading · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [From Chernobyl to AI: The Rise and Fall of Safety Culture](https://daily.dev/posts/from-chernobyl-to-ai-the-rise-and-fall-of-safety-culture-fjgt3hj62) · ITNEXT · 2 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#bots](https://daily.dev/tags/bots), [#social-media](https://daily.dev/tags/social-media), [#ai-safety](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-safety), [#ethical-ai](https://daily.dev/tags/ethical-ai), [#ai-regulation](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-regulation) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/the-focus-on-ai-safety-disasters-ignores-everyday-harms-cbg9k52ys) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"The focus on AI safety disasters ignores everyday harms","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-focus-on-ai-safety-disasters-ignores-everyday-harms-cbg9k52ys","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-focus-on-ai-safety-disasters-ignores-everyday-harms-cbg9k52ys"},"datePublished":"2026-10-26T13:15:01.299Z","dateModified":"2026-10-26T13:21:45.478Z","description":"AI safety legislation focuses on preventing catastrophic harms while ignoring everyday damage to how people think and connect, Sam Hiner argues. 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Their evidence indicated that this reduced connectivity, described as 'cognitive debt,' persisted even after the task was completed, raising questions about AI's long-term effect on thinking skills. Developers building AI writing tools can follow this cognitive-debt research on daily.dev as the evidence develops."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What loopholes exist in state AI chatbot safety laws backed by Google?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Google backed bills in several states, including Nebraska, that mandate basic protections against sexual content and self-harm promotion in AI chatbots, but these bills include broad carve-outs that can exempt some of the most popular services. This let legislators claim a safety win while stronger bills aimed at preventing emotional dependency on AI companions failed to pass. Teams shipping AI companion products can track how carve-out-heavy state laws evolve on daily.dev."}}]} ```