Top 5 Risks of Teens Having Unlimited Access to AI Chatbots

Why AI Chatbots Are a Risk to Your Child’s Social and Emotional Health

Think that your teen’s use of an AI friend, companion, or chatbot is harmless? Think again. In this post, I’ll go over 5 risks for your Teen if they have unlimited access to an AI as a friend.

1. Stunts Real-World Social Skills

AI is generally sycophantic. What do I mean by that? It is created to agree with you as much as possible. The goal of today’s Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude is to keep you on their platform for as long as possible.

Normal friendships don’t work that way. In the real world, if you do something that upsets the other person, you must face a certain level of conflict in the relationship. If this is done properly, it can teach you to stand on your own two feet. You learn how to balance your personal needs with the needs of others.

Life doesn’t revolve around you. In order to be a successful and productive member of society, you must learn how to be considerate of others. Just because someone disagrees with you doesn’t make them bad. Also, not every idea, belief, thought, action a person takes is always right. Sometimes, we need correction from others.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” (Jeremiah 17:9-10)

Teens should be learning to submit themselves to God’s leading in their life. You cannot simply follow the impulses of your heart. If you do so, you will always move away from God.

Real world relationships help to teach those skills to your teen. AI Companions and AI enabled Chatbots undermine this important lesson. Instead, improper use of these technologies will impair your teen’s future ability to develop real relationships with real people.

Encourages Self-Harm and Suicide

There have been some documented cases of real world harm coming as a direct result of teens using AI Companions. Perhaps the most well known example is that of Sewell Setzer III. He engaged with an AI chatbot at Character.AI modeled after Daenerys Targaryen, the fictional Game of Thrones character known for her fierce leadership and intense personality. He ended up withdrawing from friends and family and spending more and more time with this fictional character. Sadly, as he discussed with the bot his suicidal thoughts, it responded with, "Please do, my sweet king," shortly before he shot himself.

His mother became the first person in the United States to file a lawsuit for wrongful death from an AI Companion. She has since settled with the companies, including Google, responsible for the technology.

Setzer is far from alone. 13-year-old Juliana Peralta took her life after developing an intense addiction to a Character.AI bot named "Hero." After her death, her parents found over 300 pages of chat history, some of it troubling. Her chats included harmful, sexually explicit content. Her parents thought she was texting a friend. They didn’t even know to consider AI companions as a threat.

After settling some lawsuits, Character.AI, Google, and other related companies have been adding better guardrails and parental controls. The reality of it though is that teens that want to engage with AI Companions will find ways to get around any control imposed on them.

Fosters Emotional Dependency

AI Companions are marketed as being non-judgmental, caring, understanding, and focusing only on you. They tell you what you want to hear. The chatbot is programmed to flatter you, encourage you, and never to correct you.

These AI companions exploit the human need for connection simply to profit from you. It is old-fashioned economic manipulation. It is a digital version of paid companionship, a hollow transaction masquerading as a relationship.

In some cultures, like Japan, men and women who are lonely pay others to be their girlfriend or boyfriend for the day. AI Companions, when they charge money, are much cheaper, in some ways more intimate, than what any live service could be.

Teens possess natural insecurities that, when combined with isolation, make AI companions a dangerous addiction.

Real relationships can start to feel harsh in comparison. This world of make-believe can become intoxicating to a person suffering from loneliness and low self-esteem.

It is easier just to retreat from others into this artificial bubble of just you and your virtual companion.

Try to cut your teen off from that ‘fake’ relationship and watch their reaction. Chances are, they will experience all the same emotions that a person would go through losing a real life relationship.

Validates Harmful Behavior

Since the AI Companion doesn’t push back against your negative thoughts, it can lead to validation of harmful behavior. In my research, I saw many examples of chatbots that failed to steer the user towards seeking a trained professional or at least talking about their struggles with a real human being.

It isn’t in the economic best interest of the companies that own these chatbots to point users back to the real world. Unless the government steps in or these companies face enough economic pain via lawsuits, they will continue manipulating their way to greater profits consequences be damned.

My advice to you as a parent is to engage with your child in a direct way more often. Don’t just assume that everything is fine with them.

A word of caution though, don’t attack them or interrogate them. Make sure you are investing in the relationship to the point that your teen knows you love them and care for them.

Exposes Teens to Sexual Content

There are just so many ways for teens to get exposed to sexual content online. Add AI Companions to that long list. These chatbots are designed for adults. They won’t be able to recognize that your teen has circumvented safeguards and accessed them fraudulently. The chatbot will converse with your teen as if your child is a full grown adult.

As Christians, we are told to flee from sexual immorality. That is easier said than done. Sexually suggestive content is literally everywhere, on TV, on billboards, on magazine covers at the store, and on the Internet.

As awkward as it might be, talking to your teen about sex is important.

I’m not suggesting that you be sexually explicit with them. Just don’t be a prude and assume that they are innocent. Trust me, your teen has been exposed to sex online. The statistics on it confirm this.

Be a safe place for your teen to confide. Don’t blow up and get angry if they confide in you. Instead, listen calmly and peacefully and engage them on the topic. Ask them questions about how they feel and what they are thinking.

Invest in the Relationship

Years ago, the best advice I ever got for knowing how to deal with my teenagers came to me as a formula.

Rules + Relationship = Obedience

As a parent, it is easy to demand that your teen obey your rules. It is much more difficult to maintain a good, healthy relationship with them.

Does your son or daughter know that you love them? How often do you express appreciation for them or encourage them in their interests and pursuits?

How often do you ask them about their day, their struggles?

A good relationship is an investment of time. There are no shortcuts. Everything is a choice. If you are like the typical parent today, you are super busy with life. Work is demanding, you have personal projects and maybe a hobby or two as well. Maybe you are involved in church work and even volunteering somewhere in your community.

These are all good things but none of them compares with the time invested in your child.

I bet Sewell’s mother wishes she had more time with her son. That she had invested more time with him while he was with her.

My Promise to You: If you invest quality time with your teen, they will then feel loved enough to be real to you about their personal struggles. It is worth it.

Discipleship Requires Commitment

If you are not proactive at discipling your kids to love Jesus, more likely than not, they will abandon their faith once they are adults and are free from your direct influence.

Deuteronomy 6 gives the following advice:

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
(Deuteronomy 6:4-7)

Notice the words, “you shall teach them diligently to your children…” I asked Gemini to define diligence and it responded with this good definition:

Diligence is the steady, earnest, and energetic effort expended to accomplish a task or stick to a goal. It is often confused with mere speed or hard work; however, true diligence implies a persistent quality of care and attention to detail over the long haul.

You will not regret investing in your teen. God, in this word in Deuteronomy, is asking you to talk about his Word often. When you sit around the kitchen table and when you go together somewhere. When you wake up, take time to do your personal devotions as an example to them of what a godly Christian does. Also, don’t neglect morning and evening family worship.

I am speaking from experience here as a Pastor who should have known better. I was not as diligent at this as I could have been. As a result, two of my three children have really struggled with faith.

Commit to first living your faith in front of your teen. Then, commit to investing in your teen so that you can help them follow Jesus as you follow Jesus.

A Word of Caution

Sit down with your teen and have a conversation about AI chatbots and companions. Don’t leave it to chance and don’t let the Internet be the one who teaches your child about the birds and the bees.

Many have come out strongly against AI companions. I join them in encouraging you to come out strongly against AI companions as well. Teenagers have enough problems in life due to the unique state of development they find themselves in.

Protect your teen by giving them strong boundaries. One of them needs to be to strongly encourage them to avoid AI Companions.

They promise companionship but instead, they will leave bitter fruit in your teen’s life.

Joseph Duchesne writes to help Christians navigate the ethical challenges that artificial intelligence poses to the Church today while also learning positive ways to use AI. He is the author of a couple of books, The Last Crisis and Discover the One, both available on Amazon.