Relations are a difficult thing. More and more adolescents to solve their problems are now addressing chat bots based on AI. But how safe is it?
According to the new Common Sense Media report, 72% of adolescents surveyed used the services of JI-Companions, and 33% maintained friendship or relations with chat boots. The thing is that these chat bots are programmed to make it seem to us that they understand us. This may seem like a simple solution to the problem for a teenager who lacks attention from peers.
One study of the University of Stanford among students using the Replika application showed that 81% of participants consider the companion based on the “intellectual”, and 90% “similar to a person”. 3% of respondents this application even helped to avoid suicide.
At the same time, such chat bots are not always safe. For example, a mother from Florida sued a company owning Character.ai, claiming that the Chat Bottom has formed an obsessive connection with her 14-year-old son Suell Setzer III and ultimately provoked him to attempt suicide (which turned out to be successful). Another lawsuit filed in 2024 said that the same chat-boot encourages acquaintance with adolescents and violence against parents who are trying to limit the frequency of using this application.
What to do? First of all, tell the teenager that real living people can offer him more than AI. Growing up, the child should learn to accept the oddities and personality of his friend, maintain friendship. It can be especially useful in difficult times. For example, at school persecution. One study with the participation of more than 1000 adolescents showed that maintaining close relationships with a friend was the most useful strategy for children who were subjected to persecution. In the course of another scientific work, it turned out that friends in real life can reduce the consequences of the problematic use of social networks in adolescents.
