[DECODED] AI is changing our lives more than we realize

AI is reshaping our lives more than we realize, from how much time we spend online, to how safe our children are, to how we vote Filipinos spend an average of 36 hours and 12 minutes online weekly, significantly higher than the global average of 19 hours, with a notable usage of generative AI tools. Concerns about child online safety have intensified, prompting discussions among stakeholders, including Meta, about the effectiveness of safety features and the responsibility of platforms in managing harmful content. The upcoming Social Good Summit will focus on the impact of AI on society, emphasizing the need for human values and community involvement in guiding technological changes. This is AI-generated. Read the article for full context. Report any errors. How much time do you spend online in a week? I checked mine using the Screen Time feature on my devices, and found that I spent around 60 hours last week on apps related to productivity, social, and entertainment. But that’s mostly because my work requires a lot of time to be connected to the internet — or so I convince myself to feel less guilty about my high screen time. Media intelligence company Meltwater and creative agency We Are Social have released Digital 2027, their latest installment in their annual reports that provide data on digital trends worldwide, including social media use and the adoption of AI tools. Their latest report showed that Filipinos lead in social media and online video time, averaging 36 hours and 12 minutes a week, across the over 230 countries and territories included in the report. That’s nearly double the global average of about 19 hours. READ: Digital 2027 report: Global use of GenAI tools rises, web browser activity declines Filipinos are also among the most active users of generative AI in the world, with 94.4% saying they use AI tools monthly and 54.6% saying they used ChatGPT in the past month. These numbers are both higher than the global averages of 85.2% and 34.7%, respectively. The numbers in the Digital 2027 report only cover users aged 16 and above. But recent incidents have shown that children, among the most vulnerable, also spend a lot of time on online platforms — so much so that debates about banning or limiting their screen time have become more urgent than ever. I attended an event hosted by Meta last week. The company brought together representatives from government, civil society, and the technology sector to discuss child online safety and help young people and their parents to recognize online risks — especially after multiple incidents of school violence were reported nationwide. READ: Ban or tiered limits? Meta, gov’t agencies discuss child online safety Meta’s response to child safety rests on safety features, like age verification and parental controls. But these tools, while they are helpful, leave much of the burden on children and parents rather than on the platforms that host and profit from the content users are expected to always scrutinize. They can even be circumvented. As a result, harmful content still slips through — which AI can now generate in seconds. We saw this recently in Brazil’s 2026 general election, where the surge of AI-generated content bypassed Brazil’s electoral rules. A report from fact-checking agency Agência Lupa said that, of the AI-generated political content they monitored, about 60% were deepfakes and lacked transparency labels. Although regulations banning deepfakes and requiring disclosure for AI content were in place, these were “fully and truly disrespected by all stakeholders,” said Agência Lupa founder Cristina Tardáguila. READ: Lessons for the Philippines: AI content surge bypassed Brazil’s election rules — report These things tell us one thing: AI is reshaping our lives more than we realize, from how much time we spend online, to how safe our children are, to how we vote. What we must ensure now is that we, the humans, are the ones guiding this change. That is the conversation we’ll be having at Rappler’s Social Good Summit on November 21. This year’s theme is “We, The Humans,” because we will put human values, creativity, and community at the center of the conversation as we tackle the harms posed by unregulated and abused AI. The summit will feature the world’s foremost AI experts, such as Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa, historian Yuval Noah Harari (pre-recorded), human rights activist Agnès Callamard, Nobel Committee Chair Jørgen Watne Frydnes, and AI Singapore’s Leslie Teo. The full list of speakers is available here. Explore: Social Good Summit 2026: We, The Humans Participants can also choose two out of the six exclusive masterclasses that will take place throughout the day. The topics range from privacy in the age of AI agents, to vibe coding lessons, editorial cartooning, crisis management, and data-driven storytelling — which I will facilitate alongside my colleague Kit Posadas. Get your tickets here, and hope to see you there! – Rappler.com How does this make you feel? Loading