Khaleel Hamad

Project: Safe Scales

Problem: Prior work has found that autistic young adults are more likely to experience harms on social media due to interpreting interface cues literally (Page et al., 2022). For example, participants in prior studies understood “Facebook Friends” as literal friends, which in turn led some to disclose private information or even send money to unsafe online connections. In the context of AI systems, these challenges may be amplified. Particularly when technologies such as targeted advertising adopt personable framing or use language like “this product is for you,” which can be interpreted as direct, individualized communication.

Problem