{"id":4256,"date":"2025-11-06T15:18:05","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T07:18:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rainyjames.com\/?p=4256"},"modified":"2025-11-06T16:32:54","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T08:32:54","slug":"kids-are-asking-ai-companions-to-solve-their-problems-heres-why-thats-a-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rainyjames.com\/?p=4256","title":{"rendered":"Kids are asking AI companions to solve their problems \u2014 here\u2019s why that\u2019s a problem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When two of James Johnson-Byrne\u2019s friends got into <\/strong>an argument earlier this year, he didn\u2019t know what to do. So the 16 year-old turned to <\/strong>an AI companion for advice.

AI companions are digital characters who text and talk with users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chatbot told Johnson-Byrne, who lives in Philadelphia<\/strong>, to separate <\/strong>his friends. He did so<\/strong> and it solved the immediate problem<\/strong>, he said. But \u201cnow they don\u2019t talk much.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The experience showed him that <\/strong>AI companions \u201ccan\u2019t find the deeper issue,\u201d
he said. \u201cI\u2019d be scared to ask them a deep, underlying <\/strong>question.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another thing that struck <\/strong>Johnson-Byrne was how AI companions seemed to always
agree with him and tell him what he wanted to hear. And he found the way they talk to
be eerily similar<\/strong> to humans. At one point when he was talking to an AI companion, \u201cI
forgot it was actually not my friend,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New research suggests other teens are having the same experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The majority of<\/strong> teenagers (72%) have used AI companions, according to the survey <\/strong>of over 1,000 13\u201317-year-olds conducted this year. Over half of teens use them regularly, according to the research, and one-third<\/strong> turn to them for<\/strong> relationships and social interactions<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s more<\/strong>, 31% of teens say their conversations with AI companions are as
satisfying as or more satisfying than their conversations with other people, and 33%
have discussed serious and important issues with AI companions instead of other
humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The findings<\/strong> shed new light on the relationships teens are developing with AI
tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

companions <\/strong> \/k\u0259m\u02c8p\u00e6nj\u0259nz\/ \u540c\u4f34
got into<\/strong> \u9677\u5165\u3001\u5377\u5165<\/strong>
turned to… for advice<\/strong> \u5411\u2026\u2026 \u6c42\u52a9\u83b7\u53d6\u5efa\u8bae, \u201cturn to\u201d \u4f53\u73b0 \u201c\u4e3b\u52a8\u5bfb\u6c42\u5e2e\u52a9\u201d \u7684\u52a8\u4f5c\uff0c\u6bd4 \u201cask… for advice\u201d \u66f4\u81ea\u7136
Philadelphia <\/strong>\/\u02ccf\u026al\u0259\u02c8d\u025blfi\u0259\/ \u8d39\u57ce

separate<\/strong> \/\u02c8sepr\u0259t\/ v. \u5206\u5f00
did so<\/strong> \u8fd9\u6837\u505a\u4e86\u3001\u7167\u505a\u4e86
immediate problem<\/strong> \u5f53\u4e0b\u7684\u95ee\u9898\u3001\u773c\u524d\u7684\u95ee\u9898
underlying<\/strong> \u6f5c\u5728\u7684\u3001\u6839\u672c\u7684

showed him that<\/strong> \u8ba9\u4ed6\u610f\u8bc6\u5230\u2026\u2026
struck<\/strong> \u4f7f\u5370\u8c61\u6df1\u523b\u3001\u8ba9\u2026\u2026 \u6ce8\u610f\u5230 \uff0c\u6bd4 \u201cimpressed\u201d \u66f4\u53e3\u8bed\u5316
eerily similar <\/strong>\u60ca\u4eba\u5730\u76f8\u4f3c\u3001\u8be1\u5f02\u822c\u76f8\u4f3c eerie \/\u02c8\u026ari\/
At one point<\/strong> \u6709\u4e00\u6b21\u3001\u67d0\u4e2a\u65f6\u523b

The majority of<\/strong> \/m\u0259\u02c8d\u0292\u0254\u02d0r\u0259ti\/ \u5927\u591a\u6570\u3001\u7edd\u5927\u90e8\u5206 \uff0c\u6bd4 \u201cmost of\u201d \u66f4\u6b63\u5f0f
survey <\/strong> \/\u02c8s\u025c\u02d0rve\u026a\/ \u8c03\u67e5
conducted<\/strong> \/k\u0259n\u02c8d\u028ckt\u026ad\/ \u5f00\u5c55\u7684
one-third<\/strong> \u4e09\u5206\u4e4b\u4e00 , \u7b80\u6d01\u7684\u6bd4\u4f8b\u8868\u8fbe

turn to them for<\/strong> \u201c\u5411\u5b83\u4eec\u6c42\u52a9\u4ee5\u83b7\u53d6\u2026\u2026\u201d
interactions<\/strong> \/\u02cc\u026ant\u0259\u02c8r\u00e6k\u0283\u0259nz\/ \u76f8\u4e92\u5f71\u54cd
What\u2019s more<\/strong> \u201c\u6b64\u5916\u3001\u66f4\u91cd\u8981\u7684\u662f\u201d\uff0c\u6bd4 \u201cMoreover\u201d \u66f4\u53e3\u8bed\u5316
The findings<\/strong> \u8fd9\u4e9b\u53d1\u73b0

shed new light on<\/strong> \/\u0283ed\/ \u201c\u4e3a\u2026\u2026 \u63d0\u4f9b\u65b0\u89c1\u89e3\u3001\u4f7f\u2026\u2026 \u7115\u65b0\u8ba4\u8bc6\u201d shed<\/strong> \u539f\u4e49 \u201c\u6295\u5c04\u201d\uff1b\u201clight\u201d \u5f15\u7533\u4e3a \u201c\u89c1\u89e3\u3001\u542f\u53d1\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When two of James Johnson-Byrne\u2019s friends got into an argument earlier this year, he didn\u2019t know what to do. So the 16 year-old turned to an AI companion for advice. AI companions are digital characters who text and talk with users. The chatbot told Johnson-Byrne, who lives in Philadelphia, to separate his friends. He did […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[31,43,29],"class_list":["post-4256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english","tag-english","tag-essay","tag-29"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rainyjames.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rainyjames.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rainyjames.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rainyjames.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rainyjames.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4256"}],"version-history":[{"count":47,"href":"https:\/\/www.rainyjames.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4313,"href":"https:\/\/www.rainyjames.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4256\/revisions\/4313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rainyjames.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rainyjames.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rainyjames.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}