BEXAR COUNTY – As technology continues to advance and as sexual predators continue to find ways to harm teens and children in different online spaces, the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office is partnering with an organization that’s fighting those threats with artificial intelligence.
“In February, I attended a sheriffs’ conference in Washington, and that is where I met members of the Safe Surfin’ Foundation,” said Sheriff Javier Salazar. “There was a young man who created this app for the foundation after going through a traumatic experience that inspired him to save others.”
That young man is California entrepreneur Graeme Page. At age 22, Page is the CEO of his own company, Skyll.
“(The app) teaches skills that allow people to be educated on how to use the internet safely and to live on the internet and have the essential skills needed to be an online citizen and to do it through education technology they love," Page said.
Page created the Deputy App, which he said is the flagship program that will be launched in West Virginia schools in August.
“It is basically an Internet 911 that is AI-powered to chat,” Page said. “It’s where you can have video, voice and text conversations with an AI peer that we (have) taken the likenesses of influencers and turned them into AI twins that resemble peer mentors and online safety coaches.”
He said kids could then talk to the avatars for advice when they need to report a crime, such as sextortion, online harassment, cyberbullying and other things they may feel uncomfortable about.
“That information could then be transmitted to law enforcement, who will investigate appropriately,” he said.
KSAT caught up with Page and Mr. Eddie Worth, the president and executive director of Safe Surfin’, before they attended a scheduled meeting with state senators about their initiative.
In a Zoom call, Page shared the emotional reason why he has dedicated his life to making a difference. This significant difference emerged after a successful upbringing, marked by his company’s founding at age 11 and his collaborations with major companies and influencers over time.
“My life really changed when I was 17,” he said. “My girlfriend (died by suicide) because she was a victim of sextortion by (a) predator on Instagram,“ Page said. ”Having that happen to her the way it did, with her photos being released to everyone and then getting a text from her mom saying she had taken her own life, was devastating to live through.”
The Safe Surfin’ Foundation, which has been changing lives since 1998, is a nationally recognized foundation based in Bedford County, Virginia, dedicated to educating families about safe Internet use and online predator awareness.
They’ve been hard at work for over 25 years all over the country.
“We teamed up with Graeme about two years ago to put together an artificial intelligence program for Safe Surfin,” Worth said.
When Salazar heard about the app, he said it was a no-brainer to include Bexar County schools on the list of getting the app.
“Right now, we are in the process of partnering with school districts to help get this information out into the hands of not only the students, but the parents as well,” Salazar said. “Let them see the value in it that we absolutely see and hopefully get to the process of saving some lives.”
Page hopes the Deputy app becomes a tool to combat negative perceptions around social media and technology.
“I want to see a world where social media platforms are not a harmful place and technology isn’t considered to be a negative thing,” Page said. “I believe technology is a the greatest asset that we have and innovation is a great thing, but it comes with dangers because there isn’t education on it and if we educate our next generations on how to use technology safely and as a tool to not be victims, then it does become an asset and it is not a place that’s considered dangerous and a negative tool anymore.”
