Laika is an AI teenager, raised by social media. She suffers from several psychological disorders such as anxiety, depression and shows strong signs of narcissism and aggression.

Shocked? Good. That is the idea of the campaign by Stendahls for Swedish insurance company Länsförsäkringar. Laika is a warning about the dangers of social media.

One in five teenagers spend all their free time on social media. Despite clear connections to mental health problems, the time spent on the platforms continues to increase. The campaign sewt out to find out what happens if you spend 100% of your time on social media as child? 

Laika is the world’s first AI teenager, raised on an intellectual diet strictly pulled from social media such as TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram. Her resulting personality and character show the effect overusing social media might have on young people. An inhumane experiment to highlight potential dangers for actual humans. 

Laika 13 was developed by a team of AI specialists, a neuroscientist and a psychology professor. Designed to reflect at typical Swedish child, Laika was then trained and exposed to content from social media channels most popular among children between the ages of 12 and 16.

As well as suffering from anxiety and depression with strong signs of narcissism and aggression when you chat with her, Laika’s self-image is very low, and she shows suspicion towards anyone who chats with her. She might manifest harmful thoughts and ideas and long, unsupervised exposure to her might prove detrimental. You can chat with her, but access is limited to journalists, teachers, or researchers with the expressed purpose to take part in, and drive, the discussion on the effects of social media.

Meet Laika here.

Länsförsäkringar has also launched several other notable campaigns to counteract online bullying and negative body image. As such, Laika 13 is a part of the company’s sustainability ambitions, working to promote well-being and prevent mental ill-health among young people.  

“Laika will be used to educate Swedish students in mental well-being. She will function as an interactive way to emphasize and expose the dangers of social media in an engaging way. Researchers and selected media representatives will also be given the opportunity to interact with her,” stated Lisa Bragée, sustainability manager at Länsförsäkringar Göteborg and Bohuslän.

Credits:

Agency: Stendahls
Creative & PR Strategist: Ylva Nestmark
Creative Director: Oscar Plasidius
Copywriters: Michael Schultz & Oscar Livh
Art Director: Josefin Fridlund
Planner: Karl Andersson
Client Director: Karin Hedberg
Project Manager: Anna Lotto
PR Strategist: Annie Lundgren
Film & Editing: Jimmy Svensson & Viktor Ragnemar
PR: Ida Nilsson
AI Strategy Lead: Christofer Falkman
Digital Project Manager: Kaj Leissner
Chief Technology Officer: Oscar Risberg
Digital Designer: Oskar Schmidt
Developer: Carolina Hagman

Client: Länsförsäkringar
Marketing Officer: Helena Isaksson 
Digital Strategy: Tobias Groth
Project Manager: Karin Haglund
Digital Marketing: Oliver Häggbom 
Sustainable Manager: Lisa Bragée