EAGER: SaTC-EDU: Improving Cybersecurity Education for Adolescents with Autism Through Automated Augmented Self-Monitoring Applications

社交媒体和在线游戏网站是无处不在的平台，为青少年提供同伴互动和社交发展，但也对健康和安全构成潜在威胁。例如，网络欺凌与青少年的负面心理健康结果有关。因此，解决这些空间中的网络欺凌和网络安全问题对于健康的社会发展至关重要。虽然网络欺凌是所有青少年都关心的问题，但患有自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的青少年尤其容易受到伤害，成为欺凌和个人数据被盗受害者的风险更高。这项研究通过创建和使用个性化的虚拟伴侣来解决这些问题，这些虚拟伴侣与青少年的互动由人工智能（AI）引导。个性化虚拟伴侣将引导ASD青少年提高自我保护策略，增加网络技术知识。该项目的目标是帮助这些人成为现代、包容和精通技术的劳动力中富有成效和满意的成员。该项目将通过开发基于深度学习算法的工具来解决自闭症青少年的网络欺凌和网络安全问题，这些工具采用多模态数据，如面部表情、身体姿势、呼吸频率、皮肤温度、心率、心率变异性、眼睛注视、语言表达和发声。融合来自这些不同来源的数据有望创建一个虚拟学习环境，该环境由自主代理居住，其中一些代理具有欺凌或侵犯隐私的倾向，其中一个是寻求帮助其人类朋友浏览互联网的个性化伴侣。人工智能同伴必须在理解人类同伴的外部（语言和非语言）行为和内部压力指标（例如神经感官）的基础上调整其互动。当与面部表情和发声并不总是与神经正常的青少年相匹配的弱势群体合作时，开发人工智能伴侣尤其具有挑战性。这类研究目前的一个问题是，训练数据集是由神经典型的受试者填充的，因此可能不能代表该项目旨在服务的人群，即患有自闭症的青少年。该项目的预期结果是新颖的深度学习算法，以解决目前为神经典型青少年设计的最先进的多模态面部表情识别算法的缺点。该项目还可以帮助ASD青少年在面对网络欺凌和试图侵犯隐私以及其他社会情况时进行自我调节。它还应该导致理解这种人工智能干预如何加强个人的技术知识和他们对网络安全职业的亲和力。该项目由安全与可信网络空间（SaTC）计划支持，该计划资助解决网络安全和隐私问题的提案，在这种情况下，特别是网络安全教育。SaTC项目与《联邦网络安全研究与发展战略计划》和《国家隐私研究战略》保持一致，旨在保护和维护网络系统日益增长的社会和经济效益，同时确保安全和隐私。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Social media and online gaming sites are ubiquitous platforms that provide peer interaction and social development for adolescents but also pose potential threats to health and safety. For example, cyberbullying has been connected to negative mental health outcomes for adolescents. Addressing cyberbullying and cybersecurity issues in these spaces is therefore essential for healthy social development. While cyberbullying is of concern for all adolescents, adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are especially vulnerable and are at a higher risk of becoming victims of bullying and theft of personal data. This research addresses these issues by creating and employing personalized virtual companions, whose interactions with the adolescent are guided by artificial intelligence (AI). The personalized virtual companion will guide adolescents with ASD to improve their self-protection strategies and increase their cybertechnology knowledge. The goal of the project is to help prepare these individuals to become productive and satisfied members of a modern, inclusive, and technology-savvy workforce.This project will address the problem of cyberbullying and cybersecurity for adolescents with ASD by developing tools based on deep learning algorithms that employ multimodal data, e.g., facial expression, body posture, breathing rate, skin temperature, heart rate, heart rate variability, eye gaze, verbalization, and vocalization. Fusing data from these diverse sources is expected to enable creation of a virtual learning environment that is inhabited by autonomous agents, some of which have bullying or privacy-invading tendencies, and one of which is a personalized companion that seeks to help its human friend navigate the Internet. The AI companion must adapt its interactions based on understanding the external (verbal and nonverbal) behaviors and internal stress indicators (e.g., neurosensory) of its human counterpart. Development of an AI companion is especially challenging when working with members of a vulnerable population whose facial expressions and vocalizations do not always match those of neurotypical adolescents. A current issue with this type of research is that training datasets are populated by neurotypical subjects and thus are potentially not representative of the population this project is intended to serve, adolescents with ASD. The desired outcomes from the project are novel deep learning algorithms to address the shortcomings of the state-of-the-art multimodal Facial Expression Recognition algorithms currently designed for neurotypical adolescents. The project may also aid self-regulation of ASD adolescents when faced with cyberbullying and attempts to invade privacy as well as other social situations. It should also lead to an understanding of how this AI intervention strengthens the individual’s knowledge of technology and their affinity for cybersecurity careers.This project is supported by the Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC) program, which funds proposals that address cybersecurity and privacy, and in this case specifically cybersecurity education. The SaTC program aligns with the Federal Cybersecurity Research and Development Strategic Plan and the National Privacy Research Strategy to protect and preserve the growing social and economic benefits of cyber systems while ensuring security and privacy.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.