Artificial Intelligence Chatbot Friendships: Potential Harms and Benefits for Students

Students of all ages have begun to regularly interact with chatbots both inside and outside of school for a variety of reasons. How little is known about the impact of these interactions on young people was recently tragically brought to light by the suicide of a 14-year-old boy in Florida. The child used it frequently Character.AIa productive artificial intelligence tool that plays a role and Game of Thrones-inspiring character in practice moments before he fatally shot himself. The child’s mother filed a lawsuit against Character.AI, claiming that the company was responsible for the child’s death. New York Times reported.

While this may be an extreme case, there is potential for unhealthy interactions between chatbots and teens, says clinical psychologist Heidi Kar, distinguished fellow in mental health, trauma, and violence initiatives at the nonprofit Educational Development Center (EDC). is dedicated to improving global education, among other initiatives.

More and more people are turning to AI chatbots for friendships and even pseudo-romantic relationships. Kar is not surprised why many people in general, including students, seek relationships with AI rather than real people, because chatbots will tell them what they want to hear rather than presenting them with hard truths. “Relationships with real people in real life are hard, complicated, and don’t always feel great,” says Kar.

Even so, Kar believes there are ways chatbots can help educate students about mental health. So, working with Simon Richmond, an EDC instructional designer, Mental Health for Allis a digital mental health program that uses artificial intelligence to help teach students mental health best practices. The evidence-based program is designed to provide psychology skills training to a broad population of youth worldwide. It combines interactive voice instructions and stories and integrates AI chatbots and peer-to-peer interaction.

Kar and Richmond share best practices in this initiative and discuss potential issues surrounding AI chatbots and mental health, as well as some ways they can help mental health.

Artificial Intelligence and Mental Health Challenges

Kar says educators need to be aware that their students may engage in potentially unhealthy relationships with chatbots, but research on human chatbot relationships is limited.

“I think the comparable research we have done to date in psychology has been directed at the porn industry,” he says. “People who turn to porn and move away from real relationships to get some form of sexual satisfaction have a very hard time getting back into real relationships. Same idea with chatbots. “It’s easy to fake and can be incredibly satisfying, even if it doesn’t have the same physical appearance.”

When designing mental health programs, Richmond says they avoid creating AI “yes” humans who tell those who interact with them only what they want to hear.

“When you interact with something that gives you hard facts, where there is friction, there are more opportunities for personal growth,” he says. “Direct gratification does not lead to personal growth, and so our goal with these AI characters is to provide empathy, interaction and a warm relationship, but still offer the skills and advice young people need to hear.”

The Potential for AI Chatbots to Aid Mental Health Education

Kar and Richmond believe that when programmed correctly, AI chatbots can provide an important outlet for students.

“There are many communities around the world where mental health and emotional awareness are talked about in very different ways,” says Richmond. “So you may have rich human relationships with peers and adults, but there’s a culture around you where you don’t have the vocabulary to talk about emotions or talk about different mental health issues.”

The chatbots in Richmond and Kar’s psychology program are based on characters that students learn from and connect with. AI is designed to provide exactly this kind of outlet for students who might not otherwise be able to talk about mental health.

“It’s a way to talk to people who have a vocabulary and a set of skills that don’t exist in the culture around you,” says Richmond.

Chatbot Potential on a Personal Level

Beyond helping a science-focused curriculum, Kar believes there is untapped potential in using people’s relationships with AI to enhance real-world relationships.

“How about focusing on an AI character that helps you better manage your personal relationships, as opposed to AI characters that can build their own relationships with you?” he says.

For example, instead of the AI saying something like “I’m sorry.” No one understands you, but I understand you,” Kar wants an AI to say things like: “What do you think would make this better? This fight looks tough. How will we overcome this?

He adds: “There’s so much we can program into AI personalities about human interaction, improving your relationships, conflict resolution and how to deal with anger, but we’re always left pulling the same thread on how to handle that?”

Ultimately, Snow imagines a conversation like this: “’You’ve never had a girlfriend. You really want a girlfriend. What do you think are some of the things that could get you there?’ As opposed to ‘I understand you’. I am here for your approach.”

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