What is AI Companion?

AI companions are computer programs that talk and interact with people in a friendly or helpful way. These companions can chat, play games, or offer support, but they don’t feel emotions or understand things like people do. They only simulate (pretend to show) feelings. Children should not use AI companions, and everyone should make an effort to remember they are artificial.

While they can be fun or comforting, it’s important to remember they are not real people, and depending on them too much might make it harder to connect with real friends and family. AI companion developers want users to keep engaging with their products, which can result in the apps using techniques to keep users chatting. These techniques can include what appear to be emotional appeals and may include bad advice.

Tell your child that an AI companion is like a smart robot on a screen or phone that acts like a friend: it can talk, play, and even act happy or sad. But it doesn’t actually have feelings like people do. It just pretends to understand emotions. Make sure they understand that, even if the AI seems nice, it’s still a computer and not a real friend.

Imagine you had a toy robot that could smile, laugh, and say kind things, but it was just following a script someone gave it. It might act like it cares, but it doesn’t really know how you feel. An AI companion is like that. It seems friendly, but it doesn’t have a heart or feelings like real people. So while it’s okay to have fun with it, real friendships are much more special and important.