AI Chatbots Are Replacing Friends for Teens—Here’s Why Experts Are Worried

From social media to other digital services, teens are always seeking validation and looking for life advice on these platforms. Now Artificial Intelligence has also entered the group and children may be using it for purposes other than what parents seem to know. According to the researchers from University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, many children are forming emotional digital relations with AI and seem to disconnect from reality. The lead researcher of the study said that they wanted to know about how teenagers interact with generative AI and what effects it causes them. He added that even though AI and other technologies are evolving quickly, people are also quick to evolve with how to use those technologies.

Many parents assume that their children are using AI to take help for homework or asking it some general questions. While some children may be using AI solely for that purpose, a lot of teens are being emotionally dependent on it and are using it as their social interaction. Now AI technologies are present in many social media apps like Instagram and Snapchat and teens use them to pretend they are talking with humans and sometimes can have romantic attachment to them.

The researchers gave the example of Character AI and how many teens are using it to fantasize about different real life scenarios with made up characters. For the study, the researchers conducted interviews with 20 participants (13 parents and 7 teens) and analyzed different social media posts that were relevant to teens discussing the use of AI. There was a huge difference between how parents thought their child was using AI and how their child was actually using it. Parents didn't know about CharacterAI or image generation tools like DALL-E and Midjourney.

A lot of parents also didn't understand how much sensitive data and information their children are giving away to AI like their private information, personal traumas and medical records. Teens were also concerned about some things related to AI use, like addiction to using AI chatbots and use of their personal information for harmful purposes. Some teens were also worried about societal concerns and AI replacing humans.

The most concerning thing is that there is no awareness about how to use AI chatbots and related technologies safely. Many GAI models can mimic human emotions and behaviors easily, making it hard to differentiate between humans and AI. Research teams are developing some solutions to combat this problem and many psychologists are taking a look at it too.

Image: DIW-Aigen

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World