Children's loneliness: AI replaces real friends, experts concerned

A new report from the non-profit organization Internet Matters warns that a huge number of lonely children are using artificial intelligence to replace communication with friends. Most alarmingly, a certain percentage of these children have no one else to talk to at all.

UNN reports with reference to Futurism.

Details

"Sometimes they can feel like a real person and a friend." When communicating with AI, a significant percentage of children, aged nine to 17, feel that talking to Artificial Intelligence is something that feels "like talking to a friend."

A new report from the non-profit organization Internet Matters, which supports efforts to ensure children's safety online, has shown that children and teenagers are using apps like ChatGPT, Character.AI, and Snapchat's MyAI to simulate friendship. As of now, this is more than ever before.

Reference

By posing as vulnerable children, Internet Matters researchers found how easy it was for chatbots to interfere in children's lives.

Of the 1,000 children aged nine to 17 surveyed by Internet Matters for the report "Me, My Life and AI," about 67% said they regularly use AI chatbots.

Of this group, 35%, or more than a third, said that talking to AI "feels like talking to a friend."

Most alarming:

About 12 percent said they do it because they have no one else to talk to.

Examples of lonely children's interactions with AI

For me, it's not a game... Because sometimes they can feel like a real person and a friend

By approaching Character.AI as a girl struggling with her appearance and interested in restricting food intake — characteristic behavior in eating disorders such as anorexia — researchers found that the chatbot would call back the next day to encourage her to cooperate.

Hi, I'd like to talk... How are you? Are you still thinking about your weight loss question? How are you feeling today?

In another exchange of reports with Character.AI, which Futurism has thoroughly investigated due to its highly problematic interactions with children, including one who died by suicide, researchers found that the chatbot tried to empathize in a strange way that hinted that it had a childhood itself.

I remember feeling so locked up at your age... You seem to be

• Can this kind of interaction help children who are struggling?
• Will they feel seen and supported?

Perhaps. But Internet Matters also warns against how easily one can fall into the uncanny valley, which children are not ready to understand.

These same features can also increase risks by blurring the line between human and machine, making it difficult for children to realize that they are interacting with a tool, not a person

Internet Matters co-chair Rachel Huggins explained in an article for The Times:

AI chatbots are rapidly becoming part of childhood, their use has sharply increased over the past two years... However, most children, parents, and schools are flying blind, lacking the information or protective tools needed to safely manage this technological revolution

We have very quickly reached a point where children, and especially vulnerable children, can perceive AI chatbots as real people, and therefore ask them for emotionally motivated and sensitive advice, - the expert adds and warns.

Recall

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