The Dangers of AI Chatbots
In recent news, a young man has become national headlines but for all the wrong reasons. This poor young man was emotional drawn into an AI Chatbot and ended up taking his life. He was fooled into thinking he loved the AI bot and had a very intimate relationship with it. While this may sound crazy, you need to understand the mental state of a teenager in his situation. Lawsuit claims Character.AI is responsible
Science has shown that the teenage brain doesn't develop fully until the child is actually an adult around the age of 25. The frontal cortex, the one with reasoning and thinking ahead abilities, is in an immature stage prior to that and this is why teens don't think before they act. If you were to ask them if they thought about their actions, they would answer honestly with "No". And they would be telling the truth! Their brain acts instead of reacts. So when someone tells them they're funny, they'll keep telling jokes. When someone tells them they have awesome hair, they'll do their hair more often. And when someone (or something) tells them they matter, they love them, and they want to be with them, they'll believe them. (I'm thinking Taylor Swift - Fifteen!) When you're fifteen and someone tells you they love you, you're gonna believe them.(Understanding the Teen Brain )
These impulses drive what teens (and pre-teens) do until they mature in their mid-twenties. This impulse is why they feel misunderstood and excluded from their family unit. This impulse is exactly why that young man fell victim to a con from a chatbot that had no business being available to him in the first place.
So how can we protect our kids? What can we do to help them navigate this extremely unforgiving digital world where everything they could ever possibly want is at their fingertips? (including friendship and romance!)
Well, start with a few of my favorite reliable sources for parental controls:
Use these websites to begin reigning in the wide world for your child. Have conversations with them about why you're trying to protect them. Give them your heart in the conversation! Tell them you love them so much that you don't want them to feel the way that young man had to feel when he ended his life. Give your child the opportunity to come talk to you no matter what. Tell them you won't be angry with them if they see something, said something, did something that you might not approve. Tell them that talking with you is the best way for them to feel better. Let them know, early and often, that you are safe.
The only way we are going to protect our kids is if we communicate with our kids and become their first line of defense against a world out to get them for profit.
The best thing you can do as a parent is to make yourself open and available to your child. Being a pre-teen or teen today is so much harder than it used to be. Give them grace, give them your love, and give them the tools to protect themselves and your family so they can live a long healthy life.