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Wednesday, January 21, 2026
Building Digital Guardrails: Toward a Privacy-First Framework for Immersive Safety
Arts Management and Technology Lab: As virtual, augmented, and mixed reality technologies merge with AI-driven platforms, the line between physical and digital life is rapidly disappearing. In these immersive environments, questions of ethics, accountability, and safety have become increasingly urgent.
This was a fantastically well written but horribly depressing article. I am generally not very positive towards augmented reality environments and excessive artificial intelligence, but this article brought up a lot of points and an interesting perspective that I had not previously considered. I know that humans can do plenty of evil things to each other in the real world, but in the real world there are laws and physical law enforcement to try to control those behaviors. In the virtual world there really are no "guardrails," as the article describes. The scary thing to me is that I don’t think that there is any world in which world governments actually take action on regulating this space, just because of how murky the jurisdiction is. That leaves the responsibility of maintaining the safety of online environments in the hands of developers, whose primary goal is very much profit, not the well-being of their virtual citizens. I think it is imperative that we as a population make it clear that we want developers to provide guardrails, and that we strongly consider our own use of technology. After all, none of this is a problem if we put our identity in the real world, rather than falling into the Metaverse.
I really like this article, especially as the author is a graduate from CMU which is a very AI, tech focused school for them to be very critical of that. I think that digital privacy is something that is not getting as much attention as it should be with how vulnerable everyone is. Virtual reality is a dangerous place as this article demonstrates. I think that by adding more guide rails we can make it safer and make it a better experience for everyone. I think that this relates to how we treat theater experience and performance art experiences which can also sometimes be exposing viewers to content that they are triggered by. I think that online we should have guidelines to restrict that content and in theater and other performance spaces we should really be emphasizing the use of content warning. AI is definitely also capable of doing a lot of harm online especially, the AI generating images and we need more guidelines to keep people safe.
As a woman-presenting person who plays video games the idea of virtual harm is not new to me. People (mostly men) tend to think that because something is virtual that their actions do not matter as much because it is in the realm of fantasy/fake and it is all part of the game. Legally, since it is not real life, it makes sense that there are not many laws about it, but with the increase in technology development and usage, there should be more people working on creating laws that protect the people that use the technology. Even if it is virtual, the harm that happens can stay with a person and impact their day to day life. There is a reason that I do not typically speak in in-game chats unless I am playing with my friends. I have not played or explored VR experiences, but I can imagine that harm in the VR world would be heightened.
I think this brings up something so important as we become more reliant on digital platforms. Because of the speed at which technology is developing, as well as that most of the world's leadership is older than the technology itself, we run into the problem of it being extremely unregulated. I think a big issue within digital worlds where people interact is that there's a sense of anonymity. A lot of people’s behavior is regulated because of the social norms that surround them and the fact that actions have real life consequences. However, with the anonymity offered online, people don't face the consequences of their actions and so it feels like they can do things that they wouldn't normally do in person. I think the fact that a lot of the digital harm revolves around sexual assault and violence is very telling to what people are willing to do when nobody is watching. I think regulation is essential to keeping people safe as we move towards a more digital world.
This was a terrifying, but incredibly insightful and necessary read. I’ve never been too involved with the online gaming sphere, but the rise of AI, particularly in artistic industries, is definitely a discussion I’ve been closely following. Reading how damaging the effects of pre-existing cases of online harm in forms of bullying or harassment reminded me of a psychological study I saw about how social media users of over six hours of screen time exhibited similar symptoms to victims of PTSD with trouble sleeping, frequent tremors and intrustive thoughts. The fact that we exist in a digital age that can already be so harmful on a social level is already worrisome, made even more concerning with the introduction of generative AI. This article meticulously highlights the ethical concerns and parameters AI should follow when integrated to online spheres. I completely and wholeheartedly agree with the central claim of this article that ethics should be at the forefront of AI usage, though I’m inclined to lean into an even more extreme claim of believing we shouldn’t pursue AI integration in this way whatsoever, despite the ongoing efforts and inevitable push.
This article was a really good read. I’ve known a little bit about some of the issues around digital spaces for a while now, and this article did a great job of summarizing the current situation. I really agree with the idea that with VR, AR, and XR’s rise some of what happens on the internet will just be worse. I’ve kept my internet footprint very small and private very deliberately, as it seems like negative interactions on the internet are inevitable. This isn’t how it should be, but unfortunately governments and corporations really don’t seem to care. I also really agree with the concept that the internet feels less real, so people are more inclined to say and do things that they wouldn’t do in real life. One part I wasn’t sure about was mentioned at the very end of the article, where the author mentions that the next generation of human culture and connection will unfold on the internet, but that seems unlikely. In my eyes, virtual reality won’t really ever be able to compete with the real world.
6 comments:
This was a fantastically well written but horribly depressing article. I am generally not very positive towards augmented reality environments and excessive artificial intelligence, but this article brought up a lot of points and an interesting perspective that I had not previously considered. I know that humans can do plenty of evil things to each other in the real world, but in the real world there are laws and physical law enforcement to try to control those behaviors. In the virtual world there really are no "guardrails," as the article describes. The scary thing to me is that I don’t think that there is any world in which world governments actually take action on regulating this space, just because of how murky the jurisdiction is. That leaves the responsibility of maintaining the safety of online environments in the hands of developers, whose primary goal is very much profit, not the well-being of their virtual citizens. I think it is imperative that we as a population make it clear that we want developers to provide guardrails, and that we strongly consider our own use of technology. After all, none of this is a problem if we put our identity in the real world, rather than falling into the Metaverse.
I really like this article, especially as the author is a graduate from CMU which is a very AI, tech focused school for them to be very critical of that. I think that digital privacy is something that is not getting as much attention as it should be with how vulnerable everyone is. Virtual reality is a dangerous place as this article demonstrates. I think that by adding more guide rails we can make it safer and make it a better experience for everyone. I think that this relates to how we treat theater experience and performance art experiences which can also sometimes be exposing viewers to content that they are triggered by. I think that online we should have guidelines to restrict that content and in theater and other performance spaces we should really be emphasizing the use of content warning. AI is definitely also capable of doing a lot of harm online especially, the AI generating images and we need more guidelines to keep people safe.
As a woman-presenting person who plays video games the idea of virtual harm is not new to me. People (mostly men) tend to think that because something is virtual that their actions do not matter as much because it is in the realm of fantasy/fake and it is all part of the game. Legally, since it is not real life, it makes sense that there are not many laws about it, but with the increase in technology development and usage, there should be more people working on creating laws that protect the people that use the technology. Even if it is virtual, the harm that happens can stay with a person and impact their day to day life. There is a reason that I do not typically speak in in-game chats unless I am playing with my friends. I have not played or explored VR experiences, but I can imagine that harm in the VR world would be heightened.
I think this brings up something so important as we become more reliant on digital platforms. Because of the speed at which technology is developing, as well as that most of the world's leadership is older than the technology itself, we run into the problem of it being extremely unregulated. I think a big issue within digital worlds where people interact is that there's a sense of anonymity. A lot of people’s behavior is regulated because of the social norms that surround them and the fact that actions have real life consequences. However, with the anonymity offered online, people don't face the consequences of their actions and so it feels like they can do things that they wouldn't normally do in person. I think the fact that a lot of the digital harm revolves around sexual assault and violence is very telling to what people are willing to do when nobody is watching. I think regulation is essential to keeping people safe as we move towards a more digital world.
This was a terrifying, but incredibly insightful and necessary read. I’ve never been too involved with the online gaming sphere, but the rise of AI, particularly in artistic industries, is definitely a discussion I’ve been closely following. Reading how damaging the effects of pre-existing cases of online harm in forms of bullying or harassment reminded me of a psychological study I saw about how social media users of over six hours of screen time exhibited similar symptoms to victims of PTSD with trouble sleeping, frequent tremors and intrustive thoughts. The fact that we exist in a digital age that can already be so harmful on a social level is already worrisome, made even more concerning with the introduction of generative AI. This article meticulously highlights the ethical concerns and parameters AI should follow when integrated to online spheres. I completely and wholeheartedly agree with the central claim of this article that ethics should be at the forefront of AI usage, though I’m inclined to lean into an even more extreme claim of believing we shouldn’t pursue AI integration in this way whatsoever, despite the ongoing efforts and inevitable push.
This article was a really good read. I’ve known a little bit about some of the issues around digital spaces for a while now, and this article did a great job of summarizing the current situation. I really agree with the idea that with VR, AR, and XR’s rise some of what happens on the internet will just be worse. I’ve kept my internet footprint very small and private very deliberately, as it seems like negative interactions on the internet are inevitable. This isn’t how it should be, but unfortunately governments and corporations really don’t seem to care. I also really agree with the concept that the internet feels less real, so people are more inclined to say and do things that they wouldn’t do in real life. One part I wasn’t sure about was mentioned at the very end of the article, where the author mentions that the next generation of human culture and connection will unfold on the internet, but that seems unlikely. In my eyes, virtual reality won’t really ever be able to compete with the real world.
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