TEDMEM report warns of AI risks to youth cognition and emotions

TEDMEM, the think tank of the Turkish Education Association, has released a report titled ‘Artificial Intelligence in Education: Global Trends and Policy Recommendations for Turkey’. The study compares practices in 11 countries, including the US, China, South Korea, Germany, and the UAE, with the current situation in Turkey.

The report highlights that 40% of AI users in Turkey are under the age of 25. It notes a significant trend where young people use AI not just for academic tasks like homework, but also for emotional support, sharing anxieties, and seeking companionship.

TEDMEM warns of two primary risks: ‘cognitive transfer’, where the systematic delegation of thinking and analysis to AI weakens learning capacity, and ‘emotion and belief transfer’, where a small number of technology companies gain disproportionate influence over the emotional tendencies and thought processes of millions of youths. The report also addresses the threat of ‘digital dictatorship’ regarding the use of digital footprints.