A Common Sense Media survey reveals more teens are turning to chatbots for friendship. Michael Robb, a senior director at Common Sense Media, joins "CBS News Mornings" with more details.

The release of Open AI's ChatGPT has accelerated the development of artificial intelligence and warnings about its impact on society.

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A national survey conducted by Common Sense Media has found that nearly three in four U.S. teens have used AI companions, with more than half using them regularly. These AI chatbots are designed to provide personal and meaningful conversations, offering validation and a safe space for teens to discuss topics they might not share with friends or family.

The survey also identified potential concerns, with a third of users reporting discomfort with something a chatbot said. Additional risk assessments by Common Sense Media found that some AI companions could generate inappropriate or harmful content. Experts suggest that making these platforms safer would involve supporting healthy child development, protecting personal data, and implementing robust reporting mechanisms for critical risks.

More teens are turning to chatbots for friendship, survey shows

So, a new type of relationship is taking hold among U.S. teens, one built on artificial intelligence, not human connection. A new national survey from Common Sense Media finds that nearly three in four teens have used AI companions and more than half use them regularly. For more on this, I'm joined by Dr. Michael Robb. He is the head of research at Common Sense Media and can tell us what this really means. Good morning to you. I don't think it's any surprise that young people gravitate to technology and are using it in interesting ways, but why are we seeing them get so close to AI chatbots? It's a great question. I think one thing to do is to first understand what an AI companion is and why it's different than what most people think of as AI. So, AI companions are like digital friends or characters that people can have more personal, more meaningful conversations with. This is distinct from things like the way people typically use AI to answer questions or do tasks. So, teens might be just chatting about their day or getting emotional support, even engaging in romantic role play. And as to why they're using it, in our survey, we find that the top two reasons are that kids say it's entertaining and that they're curious about AI companions. But if you think a little bit about what's happening with teens, I think there's a lot of other reasons why they appeal to them. I mean, AI companions are programmed to provide validation and agreement and be supportive, which is something you don't always get in the real world where you might have more emotional ups and downs in relationships. And they offer a safe space to practice social skills without judgment. So, teens might feel comfortable talking with AI companions about things that they might not tell their friends or family with little risk of friction or rejection or criticism. Yeah, it opens up the door to so many challenges, though. Are there security questions and issues? Is a young person, as they develop their own social skills, going to have what they need as an adult, as a young person, as an adult, if they only have AI chatbot friends? And I know that your survey found a third of users feel uncomfortable with something the chatbot or this virtual companion said. I don't know if that's necessarily a bad thing, but what are the dangers here? Yeah, I mean, yeah, so a third of our respondents said that they experienced some discomfort. And some people might see that as a low number. I actually see that kind of as a warning sign because a lot of teens might not even recognize that some of the content that an AI companion provides them is problematic. And, in fact, Common Sense did a separate risk assessment a couple of months ago where we tested a lot of the big AI companions and found that the AI companions could produce fairly easily sexual material, kind of offensive and stereotypical content, and advice that it followed would be quite dangerous or harmful. So a teen might not necessarily recognize that, so they might be unreporting that they are uncomfortable. Quickly, just in the last few seconds, how can we make these companions safer? Yeah, I think if you take a step back and think about what these things are designed for, they are primarily designed to grab your attention and to collect as much information as you can. So if you were going to make them safer, you would try to design them in a way that made it so that it would actually support the things that we know are healthy for child development. So it would support offline social skills. It would not collect, you know, vast troves of personal information from teens. It would do a good job of reporting when teens were in really serious or critical risk. You know, for example, if they were suicidal or showing other kinds of potential self-harm. And there would be mechanisms in place to help platforms support those teens. Well, we encourage folks to take a look at your survey. It is fascinating, and it is where we are in the world, and we wonder why there's such a thing as the Gen Z stare. This is one of the reasons. Dr. Michael Rupp, thanks for your time this morning. Thank you very much.

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More teens are turning to chatbots for friendship, survey shows

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