Top US Professor Warns AI Chatbots Could Be Giving Teens Dangerous Relationship Advice

There used to be a time when teenagers would turn to a trusted adult to discuss matters of the heart - a new and strange experience given their adolescent age. Today, AI chatbots have taken the place of adults. Thao Ha, a psychology professor at Arizona State University, who studies adolescent romantic relationships and mental health in the digital age, says that while a good number of teenagers can actually gauge AI's limitations, the advice they receive can sometimes feel like an echo-chamber, reinforcing unhealthy behaviours instead of challenging them.Ha is currently leading research that examines how teenagers interact with AI chatbots about their relationships, which equips her with better insight on the matter. Her team combines anonymised

chatbot conversations with daily emotional check-ins and smartphone data to drawn their correlations and conclusions. "In my conversations with teens, they're very aware of the dangers of AI. They're very aware that it's a machine and that the data is not private," Ha shares. Still, this awareness does not not entirely do away with the growing dependance: "But they're also asking about times that they feel very distressed about when their partner is not picking up their phone, for example, what they should do. Or they're asking about intimacy - both emotional intimacy, like 'how do I explain something that I actually don't like that they're doing', or how to take their relationship a step further in terms of physical intimacy. So, they trust the machine a lot with all of the variety of questions that they're having."She makes note of how chatbots is actually built to engage in a way that encourages dependance: "So, people become dependent on the AI. They form attachments with it, and that increases engagement. And that is how this industry is making their money. And we're interested to disrupt that technology by actually developing evidence-based tools so youth can use that safely in their relationships and it helps them prepare for real-life relationships."One would think being cognisant of this pattern would dissuade a budding 'relationship' - but the endless validation these chatbots provide take care of that hiccup. Ha warns, "(That's) something I'm very worried about. If it's always validating, and the teen is like...they show, they feel comfortable with the controlling behaviours in their relationship and the chatbot is reinforcing that, it could end up into (a) cycle and it may reflect more violent relationship behaviors in their real life."

Top US Professor on Teens Taking Relationship Advice from AI

Now this is exactly the concern she plans on targeting with her next grant. Because one thing's for clear - lecturing teenagers about the ills of AI, especially in maneuvering personal situations, isn't going to get anyone too far. The only way to ensure their safety is to provide safer technology and greater transparency: "They know much more about all the benefits and dangers, more than adults do. So, I actually don't think they need advice. They need more guidance in general about like, why is this not developed for us? Why is this not developed in a way that is safe for us? Why is our data being sold? Why is it always responsive and always validating, right? And so I think it's more about that we have to design some of these AI chatbots or, you know, interaction systems in a way that teens feel safe to use."Also Read: Top US Professor Warns Drowning is Often Silent - Here's How to Protect Your ChildWhile the growing AI-takeover is something that needs to be properly studied, Ha also inverts the lens on society to ask why is it that kids feel safer talking to technology, as opposed to real adults. She thinks aloud: " 'Wow, this stressful thing happened. My partner likes someone else's Instagram post. I'm sitting with these emotions. What do I do?' Like, to me, it's a bit sad that they have to go online to a machine to ask that question and they can't ask it somewhere else. And so I think as a society, we could do better."It's true that these developments are not just restricted to adolescents alone. Still, Ha believes intervention is important during these years of a child's life, given it is when they develop their foundational understanding of relationships. She explains, "The teen years are what we call from a developmental perspective, a sensitive period. So, everything in your body, including your brain and your physiology, is wired to learn from social relationships. And so, it's a very natural phase in which you develop more autonomy from your parents and you're getting closer to your peers and your romantic partners. And you learn all these basic social competency skills like setting boundaries, being vulnerable, what it means to be intimate, right? Not just physical intimacy, but also emotional intimacy."Also Read: Top US Expert Shares A Promising New Approach To Treat Alzheimer's And Parkinson'sHa's primary objective with her work is to map a pattern to identify warning signs before teenagers hit their crisis point. Daily surveys track participants' emotions, conflicts, support systems and online experiences, alongside passive smartphone data, providing a wealth of information bridging the gap between subjectivity and objectivity with regards to the matter.Ha's goal here is pretty simple - preventing teens from reaching a point of depression by way of early intervention. "How can we also then make sure that the online world is a place where they can flourish? So not just prevention of bad outcomes, but also how can we promote their strengths so they can actually feel happy and satisfied in their lives," she concludes.