Chatbots Are Hurting Our Kids. Here’s What We Can Do.
While many of us were still worrying about Snapchat and screen time, teens had already expanded their digital repertoire.
Parental guidance recommended.
Photographer: Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images
The tragic death of California teenager Adam Raine, alongside stories of other children whose parents believe were harmed or died by suicide following interactions with AI chatbots, has shaken us all awake to the latest potential dangers awaiting teens online. We need concrete action to address the most problematic features of AI companions — the ones that may drive a child to self-harm, of course, but also the subtler ways these tools could profoundly affect their development.
In harrowing testimony before a Senate committee this week, Matthew Raine described how his 16-year-old son Adam’s relationship with ChatGPT morphed from a homework helper to a confidante and eventually, Raine said, into his suicide coach. In April, after offering advice on how to numb himself with liquor and the noose Adam had tied, Raine told lawmakers that ChatGPT offered his son these final words: “You don’t want to die because you’re weak, you want to die because you’re tired of being strong in a world that hasn’t met you halfway.”