Social AI companions pose unacceptable risks to teens and children under 18

Re:Social AI companions pose unacceptable risks to teens and... by Der_Einzige on Wednesday May 07, 2025 @02:15PM (#43918964)

Lonely young people are supposed to suffer for their sin of being unacceptable to the masses. We shouldn't let future incel types be allowed to find a social outlet because it short-circuits the "nudge" that makes them "self improve".

This is basically what the anti-AI as social companion crowd believes.

Actually, nerdy or autistic basement dwelling people are not "bad" and often do not deserve the social scorn they get. It's good that we can short-circuit the "need" for social interaction, especially with these kind of companions.

All this pearl clutching because one kid doing NSFW chats with a Danerys Targayn chatbot on character.ai got some media attention after committing suicide.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Social AI companions pose unacceptable risks to teens and... by palmotea on Wednesday May 07, 2025 @04:02PM (#43920044)

> Lonely young people are supposed to suffer for their sin of being unacceptable to the masses.

The solution to that problem is not push fake e-friends on them. That's like "Feeling sad? Try heroin, it will make you feel good!"

And honestly, your take sounds like the kind of pseudo-empathetic sales pitch of someone trying to push a technology, and block things that could stand in the way of making money from its adoption.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Social AI companions pose unacceptable risks to teens and... by sweetheart on Wednesday May 07, 2025 @02:32PM (#43919125)

One can believe that all people are deserving of love and friendship regardless of who they are or what they've done, and simultaneously believe that replacing social interaction with AI is generally a net harm for any/everyone. No one is bad because they want social stimulation from an AI, but I think it reinforces damaging norms that will leave us all worse off.

[ Parent | on HN ]