Disclaimer: Everything below is a mix of what I observed and heard during the event. The goal isn’t to pinpoint "who exactly said what," but to share (usually) an outsider's view and overall perspective on these industries. I’m not here to act as a definitive firsthand source—readers should do their own research. I hope this inspires you to attend events, explore new industries, and hear what leaders are presenting. These notes combine my observations with thoughts on how things could run smoother and how ideas connect (IMO). I’m not an expert, you know? Just hanging out in the room with them. Enjoy!

Topics: Education for Youth, Children’s Media, Compliance, Manipulation, Algorithms, Propaganda, Child Safety, Teachers, White House Initiatives, AI Education, Innovation, Contests

Congratulations, me!! It has been eight long months, and this project/proposal is finally ready to be proposed. Will Trump’s team say “I do” and bring me onto the second round of this contest? Well, that depends on how well the other educators in my region did on their proposals. This is a contest, after all, so scores matter. I have worked super hard since the week the White House’s Presidential Action was announced last Spring. And I’m done with my work. My mission is to help kids/families/teachers identify the way they’re being manipulated and messed with in real time, to provide them with information (not just censorship) to make informed decisions for themselves. Will it be well received, let’s see!! That’s up to the judges.

Why Attend: I joined this contest for a number of reasons. Mostly, I really want to help the world. As crazy and huge as that sounds, it’s the truth to my core. I see lots of problems in children’s media, teen media, media overall, and our society. Normalization of sexualization and binge-ing and consumerism and just overall complacency that I think people don’t realize they’re hypnotized by. And if/when we ever question things, often the one questioning it is called “crazy”. Yet, one of my favorite quotes is, “When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others stiffen,” and already since putting my video on YouTube (my video summarizing my project) it’s getting good feedback. A number of passionate comments in the comments sections, from random strangers! So, it shows me - which I already could have guessed/researched, people want change. They won’t want their kids (and themselves) to be so manipulated by algorithms which are just there to make people spend more time on these platforms - not actually get smarter/wiser from it. Its time wasting and grooming in many cases. I believe that showing this to THE WHITE HOUSE is one of the most direct ways i can influence change and show “the world” thatpeople are catching on and want to see better options.

Photo Collage and Commentary

Notes from the Event:

Today is the last “office hours” which I’ll write notes about below… and then further down, I’m going to just put my actual proposal. They said we can make this all public, so lemme go for it. And then before I attend the office hours, I’ll be busking again today. So far I’ve made $600 in less than two weeks!! That’s really surprising and fun to me, since I really love singing, I just improvise songs (so it’s actually a fun challenge for me), and I’m literally surprised every time someone gives me a tip… I underrate myself. But it’s a super good creative outlet that is checking so many boxes at once: happiness, creating, bravery, tenacity… I’m even testing out different outfits and different spots around the city to see what works. Some days I try three or four different spots till I find one that works. Plus, FIFA will be here in a few months, so I want to find the best chances of entertaining people and getting good tips. It’s really fun and the best side gig. It helps me not feel so lonely, too… lol/for real.

Plus, look down on busking all you want - but our new mayor used to be a busker!! So… it’s not like it’s hurting my future at all, may even help me be mayor one day. AND I’ve had two people come up to me and say they recognize me from busking in 24 hours… lol… so (actually, that is the worst part of all of this. A lot of “who I am” lately loves being anonymous, especially since standing out SO MUCH in Shanghai… it’s actually extremely nice to blend into the crowd, I realize. But that’s even a motto in China… like, just do your best not to stand out and fit in. I see its value now. Though standing up and being a leader is great, too. I just like when it feels earned/deserved. Not for superficial reasons - and this of course makes me think of how much I hate my birthday and the forced/obligated attention from your birthday… like the one day a year people go out of their way to talk to you. I wish birthdays would disappear and people would just show their real feelings. If they only talk to you once a year, don’t bother. It just makes me feel more lonely.)

NOTES FROM THE FINAL OFFICE HOURS:

MY PROPOSAL (PNG FORM)

—- and do you love that I “cite” my own website/self in my proposal to the White House? hahahah such a flex.

My PROPOSAL (written form, for the sake of SEO)

AI-Powered Content Awareness Tool for Educational Environments: Educator Track IIIB

By: Kelly Kirk (Kelly Tutors) Submitted on: January 20, 2026

Video Attachment: https://youtu.be/N8gqY_ab0tI

SECTION 1: THE AWARENESS TOOL

I propose an AI-powered content awareness tool that teaches K-12 students to recognize digital manipulation in real-time. Unlike content blockers that create dependence, this system uses overlaying words and symbols to make manipulation known. The AI analyzes content and generates age-appropriate labels + symbols that teach critical thinking skills and help students realize what’s being shown to them.

Why this is transformative:

It’s the first tool to teach manipulation recognition instead of just blocking content
It scales media literacy education to millions of students simultaneously
It builds lifelong discernment skills, not dependence on filters
It turns passive consumption into active learning moments so students can be protected

Why this tool is urgently needed:

Digital content manipulation is another layer of this failure. We're teaching kids to consume whatever is in front of them and regurgitate it back. My tool interrupts this pattern by making manipulation visible so students can develop actual discernment.

SECTION 2: AI TECHNOLOGIES

The tool combines three AI capabilities:

1. Natural Language Processing (GPT-4): Analyzes content and/or video transcripts, titles, and descriptions to identify manipulative language patterns ("You won't believe...", "Secret Flirting", "Don't tell your parents", “Run Away from Grandpa”). The NLP model will be trained on psychological manipulation tactics documented in advertising research.

2. Computer Vision (YOLO/ResNet-based): Analyzes color saturation levels, cut frequency, facial expression exaggeration scores. Same technology used in content moderation, repurposed for educational transparency.

3. Recommendation Algorithm Analysis: Tracks what content is recommended vs. what was searched for via API access or browser extension monitoring, creating a "manipulation score" based on deviation from user intent.

Why AI is necessary:

A teacher cannot manually review 200+ pieces of digital content per student daily. Only AI can analyze content in real-time as students encounter it, generate personalized age-appropriate labels for the same content, track behavioral patterns across hours of viewing, and scale to millions of students simultaneously

This is using AI to teach critical thinking at scale, something impossible with human-only approaches.

SECTION 3: TEACHING IMPLEMENTATION

How I’d use this tool in my homeschool/tutoring practice:

As a homeschool educator and tutor to a nationally recognized young entrepreneur (who rang the NYSE bell and appeared on Good Morning America), I'd use this AI-powered tool to transform media literacy education and protect students from wasting time or being pulled into content that harms them. We pause and discuss the manipulation tactics the AI identified. Students learn to spot patterns themselves (FOMO language, engagement hooks, visual manipulation).

What my tool exposes in "educational" content:

Look at the famous media like Ms. Rachel (+18M subscribers) and Blippi (+14M subscribers) - trusted as “educational” - yet totally manipulative through design:

Ms. Rachel: Fake, exaggerated facial expressions (not model authentic interaction), constant high-pitched vocal patterns triggering dopamine responses, rapid scene changes, maintaining engagement over actual learning.

Blippi: Hyper-saturated colors, manic energy, product placement disguised as exploration, never cleans up after himself (making messes without responsibility).

These shows train attention, addiction, and learned helplessness. My three-year-old asks for celery after Wonder Pets but cupcakes after Peppa Pig, she's internalizing content messaging. My tool makes this visible to older students so they can make informed choices. Students, parents, and teachers can even choose preferences.

Why this solution engages students:

This transforms passive consumption into active media literacy lessons. Students become investigators of their own media diet. They start to identify manipulative tactics.

Just look at the homepage of YouTube Kids above. Deemed as "age appropriate" yet filled with innuendos, age-inappropriate behavior modeling, "secret flirting", violence normalization, and binge normalization.

This isn’t accidental. It’s behavioral conditioning and grooming at scale.

- repeated exposure

- normalization

- emotional scripting

- shaping what feels “normal”

- doing it before critical thinking is developed

These videos are the addictions of the generations that'll be running our future businesses and taking care of us when we're too old to do it for ourselves. What world do we want them to grow up in? How do we want them to make choices? Let’s teach them how these videos are beings used to manipulate them.

Age-appropriate label + explanation examples:

Elementary (K-5):

"This wants to waste your time”, “This wants you to buy something”
"Real teachers don't look like this."

Middle School (6-8):

"You searched for homework 45 minutes ago... still on task?"
"Notice the violence - is this for learning?"

High School (9-12):

"This uses FOMO to keep you watching."
"This is persuasive design. What techniques do you notice?"

SECTION 4: EVIDENCE

Studies confirm the urgent need for this intervention:

YouTube's algorithm drives 70% of watch time through suggested content rather than user searches (Covington et al., 2016)
Dopamine loops from variable reward schedules damage developing brains, particularly pre-adolescent children (Montag & Walla, 2016)
Media literacy education shows significantly improved ability to recognize persuasive intent and regulate consumption (Jeong et al., 2012)

Documented harms my tool addresses:

Financial manipulation: Children ages 6-12 exposed to 40,000 commercials annually (American Psychological Association, 2020)
Health triggers: 90% of popular children's YouTube channels contain food advertising for high-sugar products (Potvin Kent et al., 2019)
Emotional manipulation: Children are particularly vulnerable to FOMO and exclusion anxiety (Przybylski et al., 2013)
Time awareness gap: Average teen spends 7+ hours daily on screen media, most unable to estimate actual usage (Common Sense Media, 2021)

My documentation:

Manual analysis of 50+ YouTube Kids videos revealed patterns AI can recognize: 90% entertainment content (not educational), identical content for ages 5-12 with no developmental differentiation, inappropriate themes like "Secret Flirting" and "Prison Escapes" for kindergarteners. My screenshots demonstrate that existing curation systems are inadequate.

At children's mental health awareness events, pediatric providers confirmed that constant exposure to curated content without media literacy skills contributes to unprecedented depression/anxiety rates in youth (Kirk, 2025b).

Development challenges overcome:

Through attending AI education conferences (Kirk, 2025a, 2025d, 2025e), I learned that 20% of K-12 students are chronically absent post-COVID, while EdTech platforms track 170,000+ data points per student yet experience massive data breaches. My tool offers a different approach: teaching protective skills rather than surveillance.

At AI in Global EdTech Leadership conferences, I observed how the AI industry evolves rapidly while child safety applications remain underdeveloped. The industry focuses on data collection and surveillance rather than student well-being. Through attending local STEM education events (Kirk, 2025c), I saw many programs talk down to children rather than building genuine critical thinking skills. My tool addresses this by providing age-appropriate guidance that respects students' intelligence.

Technical implementation decisions remain (browser extension vs. platform partnership vs. school network), but the labeling concept is sound and scalable. Future iterations will include educator/parent controls to customize sensitivity levels and label frequency. Older students can input what they most want/don't want to see, giving them agency.

SECTION 5: ADMINISTRATION ALIGNMENT

This tool directly supports Executive Order 14277's mission to maintain America's AI dominance by preparing students as critical participants in the AI-assisted workforce. American students fall behind globally while spending more hours online than their international peers. This tool works across all classroom settings, scales nationally, and builds lifelong discernment skills.

This also supports the December 11, 2025, order "Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence," which emphasizes responsible AI development that serves American interests, my tool demonstrates AI's potential to protect rather than exploit children.

Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) alignment:

We cannot make America healthy while children are systematically manipulated by content that:

Advertises junk food 40,000 times annually per child
Creates dopamine addiction patterns identical to substance abuse
Normalizes unhealthy behaviors through fake "educational" content
Produces the most depressed, anxious generation in American history

RFK Jr.'s MAHA vision recognizes that chronic disease, mental illness, and addiction are created by manipulative systems that profit from sick Americans. My tool attacks algorithmic manipulation at its source. When we teach children to recognize how content shapes behavior (celery vs. cupcakes), we're building the foundation for a healthier America.

The December 6, 2025, order addressing food supply chain security recognizes manipulation in how Americans consume food; my tool extends this protection to children being manipulated by junk food advertising disguised as entertainment.

Child safety priorities:

Content manipulation creates vulnerable, isolated children who lack critical thinking to recognize exploitation. According to FBI research, approximately 2,000 children run away daily (average age 14), with many trafficked into exploitation. At recent Portland AI education events on child safety, presenters shared that 1 in 8 teens either know someone or have themselves been tricked into sending explicit images used for AI deepfakes (Kirk, 2025d). Others return home only to repeat the cycle, or are hospitalized and medicated at taxpayer expense rather than addressing root causes.

YouTube Kids content like "Hide and Seek," "Secret Flirting," and "Run Away from Grandpa" normalizes dangerous behaviors from a young age. This produces vulnerable children who lack critical thinking skills to recognize danger and predatory grooming.

Teaching media literacy is preventative medicine for the mind—addressing root causes rather than medicating symptoms at taxpayer expense.

SECTION 6: WHAT I LEARNED

How this deepened my understanding of AI in education:

Based on my manual analysis of 50+ YouTube Kids videos, I identified patterns (bright colors, rapid cuts, exaggerated expressions, FOMO language) that AI could be trained to recognize. Through this process, I learned that explaining WHY content is manipulative gives students agency rather than creating dependence on filters.

Attending multiple AI development events showed me how the AI industry evolves rapidly, while child safety applications remain underdeveloped. The industry focuses on data collection and surveillance rather than student well-being. My tool demonstrates AI's potential to protect rather than exploit children.

Future iterations will include educator/parent controls to customize sensitivity levels and label frequency based on individual student needs. Older students can input what they most want/don't want to see, giving them agency in their own media literacy journey.

What I'd share with other educators:

This tool gives visibility and intervention capabilities without being punitive. Teachers and parents can redirect students with context rather than just blocking access. I've seen what's possible when we actually educate children—my work with a nationally recognized entrepreneur showed how kids succeed in focused, intentional environments. My tool helps students recognize manipulation themselves and develop the discernment that protects them from all forms of exploitation, online and offline.

Other educators, parents, and students themselves will want this tool because it respects their intelligence while building protective skills. It's not surveillance—it's education.

References

American Psychological Association (2020). Report on advertising to children. https://www.apa.org/pubs/reports/advertising-children

Common Sense Media (2021). Media use by tweens and teens report. https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/the-common-sense-census-media-use-by-tweens-and-teens-2021

Covington, P., Adams, J., & Sargin, E. (2016). Deep neural networks for YouTube recommendations. https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/research.google.com/en//pubs/archive/45530.pdf

Jeong, S. H., Cho, H., & Hwang, Y. (2012). Media literacy interventions: A meta-analytic review. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22736807/

Kirk, K. (2025a, March 31). AI in Global EdTech Leadership. Kelly Tutors, LLC. https://kellytutors.com/blog/ai-in-global-edtech-leadership

Kirk, K. (2025b, April 22). Children's Mental Health Awareness Free Event Day. Kelly Tutors, LLC. https://kellytutors.com/blog/childrens-mental-health-awareness-free-event-day

Kirk, K. (2025c, May 14). Vulnerable Kids/Youth Immersive Education Fundraiser Lunch and Learn. Kelly Tutors, LLC. https://kellytutors.com/blog/vulnerable-kids-youth-immersive-education-fundraiser-lunch-and-learn

Kirk, K. (2025d, June 11). Chasing AI Across Borders, Carefully… (day 1+2). Kelly Tutors, LLC. https://kellytutors.com/blog/chasing-ai-across-borders-carefully-day-1-2

Kirk, K. (2025e, June 22). AI Startup Bootcamp, Back Over the Border. Kelly Tutors, LLC. https://kellytutors.com/blog/ai-startup-bootcamp-back-over-the-border

Montag, C., & Walla, P. (2016). Carpe diem instead of losing your social mind: Beyond digital addiction. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23311908.2016.1157281

Potvin Kent, M., Pauzé, E., Roy, E. A., de Billy, N., & Czoli, C. (2019). Children and adolescents' exposure to food and beverage marketing in social media apps. Pediatric Obesity, 14(6), e12508. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ijpo.12508

Przybylski, A. K., Murayama, K., DeHaan, C. R., & Gladwell, V. (2013). Motivational, emotional, and behavioral correlates of fear of missing out. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(4), 1841-1848. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0747563213000800

Until next time, I wish you the motivation and success to search for opportunities around your area. Search and explore: Who is out there giving talks? There are new things happening all of the time.

Find relatable or interesting topics you like and check them out! Maybe even something hosted at a cool venue, if there’s no other reason to go. Let’s see what you can learn and discover not too far from home. 😊