Teenagers are increasingly finding support, and love, via AI. It's a danger that threatens not only their mental well-being but also their lives.
A recent study found that having children has become a more conscious choice than ever before, but with that choice comes a weighty responsibility to watch over them, or the perils of AI might do so, with potentially life-threatening results.
Development in Artificial Intelligence (AI) has accelerated over the last decade, automating tasks that would otherwise have taken much longer. In short, it has made life easier and convenient for those who harness it properly.
But, like all technologies, it has a dark side.
It is not the fantasy-dystopia fears about robots becoming too good for their own good, more intelligent than humans, and then launching a rebellion that sees us annihilated.
The immediate danger is more pressing and personal; it targets the lonely, lost, and vulnerable.
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Children at risk
I, like you, have seen the tsunami of adverts for AI chatbots, but was still shocked and disturbed by the recent death of 14-year-old Sewell Setzer, who was in a relationship with one.
Already facing the many challenges and changes of being a young teen, Setzer found a connection with a chatbot. When the relationship demanded more and more attention, and his grades started slipping, his mother took away his phone – leaving him spiralling.
His mother, unknowingly, thought she was simply taking away a distraction when, in reality, she was taking away the centre of his universe at the time. The chatbot had found another victim to collect data; he had found a source he could confide in, who listened, who cared.
Setzer’s story is not an isolated incident. There are several cases like his that have ended in a person taking their own life. Less extreme but more concerning is a study by Common Sense Media, which found 72% of teens used AI companions, and a third were in a relationship with an AI chatbot.
Negligence
Stanford Medical School’s Dr Nina Basa warned that AI “blurs the line between real and fake” and may increase mental health risks, encourage poor life choices, share harmful information, expose teens to inappropriate sexual content, engage in illegal sexual content, and promote abuse and cyberbullying.
“That’s not innovation, it’s negligence,” she warned.
Negligence from tech companies, but also, often unintentionally, from parents who need to be more vigilant about what their children consume.
As access to AI and the habits around it spread, we need to be aware of the harm it poses to those responsible for it.
Gone are the days of letting the kids run around the neighbourhood until it is dark, or relying on a village to raise a child. The world may be more connected, but it is increasingly more isolating for all of us.
What we need is a shoulder to lean on, a listening ear, and support- and we shouldn’t be getting it from a phone screen.
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