CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — Cyberbullying is a harmful reality for many children, with studies showing that around 1 in 3 will face bullying online, often on social media.
But now, a new app developed in Northeast Ohio aims to combat this, using artificial intelligence to help protect young users and prevent harmful interactions online.
The app, CyberSafely.ai, was developed by Northeast Ohio grandfather Neal Alexander, inspired by his son Nick, who serves as head football coach at Walsh Jesuit High School. Neal and Nick saw firsthand the impact social media can have on young people and wanted to create a solution to help monitor kids’ accounts for potential threats.
Neal explained how son Nick shared his struggles.
"He goes, Every night I sit there and I scroll and watch my kids social social media accounts because they do stupid stuff and so I've got to call them and say hey take that down what were you thinking? That's going to hurt you that's going to hurt the school" So I started thinking about it," Neal said.
Together with Cuyahoga Falls-based WonderKiln, Neal and Nick turned this idea into a reality, designing CyberSafely.ai to continuously scan for harmful words or images.
"That's basically where the concept came from to help him save time but realized that what we're doing could save kids because social media is such a Wild Wild West out there," Neal added.
The Technology Behind CyberSafely.ai
Through artificial intelligence, CyberSafely.ai scans posts across connected accounts for inappropriate language, threatening words, or illegal activity, such as bullying, extortion, or the sharing of explicit images. When a concerning post is detected, the app can remove it instantly and notify parents, coaches, or school administrators via a dashboard alert.
"The app’s AI can sometimes flag even unintended negativity," Neal said. "It’s comprehensive because we can’t let anything slip."
Since launching the app, Neal has partnered with schools and organizations to promote online safety. "Teachers tell me bullying is continuous and horrific, and there’s also extortion, drug sales, and the sharing of explicit images," Neal said. He explained that the problem is particularly widespread among middle schoolers, with an alarming percentage of students involved in sending or receiving explicit photos.
A Shared Mission to Save Lives
Dianne Grossman knows firsthand the dangers of online bullying. At age 12, her daughter Mallory took her own life, after enduring cyberbullying from her peers. Dianne learned about the ways other kids would target her daughter.
"They would edit her picture and they knew that Mallory didn't have Snapchat. They knew that her mom followed her on Instagram and so they would screenshot images and text them to her. Jeez, that portion of it I was unprepared for," Dianne said.
Mallory's story connected Neal with Dianne, who says this technology will help save kids like her daughter.
Through CyberSafely.ai, an account is screen 24-7, something humans can't do.
"This product allows the parents to see that there's something. We let the parent know. It's up to the parent to take the action," Neal added.
Dianne agrees that it's ultimately up to the parents to decide. "We have to use technology to combat it. That doesn't mean this is a set it and forget it meaning, parents have to be parents, right? Like, we have to put the word "parent" back into parenting. This isn't something that you download on your phone, set it and forget it," said Dianne.
CyberSafely.ai's creators are committed to making the app accessible, offering to work with school districts to secure grants that could cover the software at no cost.
The Grossmans started Mallory's Army, a foundation which educates parents on how their kids interact with the world, online and in school.
Thanks to the Grossmans' work New Jersey, their home state, has some of the strictest anti-bullying laws in the United States.