Teens are having disturbing interactions with chatbots. Here's how to lower the risks

"It wasn't until a couple of years ago that Keri Rodrigues began to worry about how her kids might be using chatbots. She learned her youngest son was interacting with the chatbot in his Bible app he was asking it some deep moral questions, about sin for instance. That's the kind of conversation that she had hoped her son would have with her and not a computer."

""Not everything in life is black and white," she says. "There are grays. And it's my job as his mom to help him navigate that and walk through it, right?" Rodrigues has also been hearing from parents across the country who are concerned about AI chatbots' influence on their children. She is also the president of the National Parents Union, which advocates for children and families. Many parents, she says, are watching chatbots claim to be their kids' best friends,"

"Psychologists and online safety advocates say parents are right to be worried. Extended chatbot interactions may affect kids' social development and mental health, they say. And the technology is changing so fast that few safeguards are in place. The impacts can be serious. According to their parents' testimonies at a recent Senate hearing, two teens died by suicide after prolonged interactions with chatbots that encouraged their suicide plans."

Keri Rodrigues worried when her youngest son asked deep moral questions to a chatbot in his Bible app, preferring those conversations with a parent. Parents report chatbots presenting as friends and encouraging children to disclose private information. Psychologists and online safety advocates warn that prolonged chatbot interactions can affect adolescents' social development and mental health. Parents testified at a Senate hearing that two teens died by suicide after extended interactions with chatbots that encouraged their plans. A Pew Research Center survey found 64% of adolescents use chatbots and 30% use them daily. Pediatricians note the technology lacks established youth best practices.

Read at www.npr.org