We always knew they weren’t real. (Please say “yes.”)
Would you be alarmed if your 12-year-old spent all his free time holding phony “conversations” with an Al Gore hand puppet? (If your answer is “Heck, no–why should I feel alarmed?,” please seek professional help).
But! A new study says three out of four teens “flock to companion bots despite the risks” (https://www.idahocountyfreepress.com/news/national/three-quarters-of-us-teens-use-ai-companions-despite-risks-study/article_24e2510c-d8d6-5310-83ca-bb73e1e890e8.html). They make “emotional connections” (holy cow) with bots over other people, and discuss “serious matters” with robots rather than with other people.
The risk is, you’ll lose your connections with family and friends and invest yourself in pseudo-relationships with inanimate objects. We would think a 15-year-old boy very odd if he spent all his time talking to a plastic doll. (And no, it does not matter what he thinks it’s saying!)
Okay, sure: I had a teddy bear, and a nice yellow bunny. I was five years old. Nobody ever told me these were actual living creatures, nor did I come to that conclusion on my own. And even if I didn’t know they were dollies then, I didn’t carry them off to high school with me.
I wonder how many dolls have accompanied their owners to college.
