{"id":297569,"date":"2025-07-28T04:01:55","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T04:01:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/297569\/"},"modified":"2025-07-28T04:01:55","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T04:01:55","slug":"one-third-of-teens-use-ai-for-friendship-and-romantic-conversations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/297569\/","title":{"rendered":"One-third of teens use AI for \u201cfriendship\u201d and \u201cromantic conversations\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"w-full mb-4 text-body-6 md:text-body-5 font-body dark:text-neutral-white external:text-custom-content-text external:dark:text-custom-content-text\">A new report from Common Sense Media reveals that nearly one-third of teenagers find conversations with AI companions as satisfying, or even more satisfying, than talking to their real-life friends.<\/p>\n<p class=\"w-full mb-4 text-body-6 md:text-body-5 font-body dark:text-neutral-white external:text-custom-content-text external:dark:text-custom-content-text\">The <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" class=\"hover:text-vertical-primary underline decoration-2 underline-offset-4 decoration-vertical-primary\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commonsensemedia.org\/sites\/default\/files\/research\/report\/talk-trust-and-trade-offs_2025_web.pdf\">study<\/a>, which surveyed over 1,000 teens in April and May, shows a dramatic rise in the use of AI for social interaction. More than 70% of teens have used AI companions like Character.AI or Replika, and 50% use them regularly. Even general-purpose tools like ChatGPT and Claude are being used for companionship, emotional support, and role-play.<\/p>\n<p>Article continues after ad<\/p>\n<p class=\"w-full mb-4 text-body-6 md:text-body-5 font-body dark:text-neutral-white external:text-custom-content-text external:dark:text-custom-content-text\">\u201cAI is always available. It never gets bored with you. It\u2019s never judgmental,\u201d said 18-year-old Ganesh Nair in an interview with the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" class=\"hover:text-vertical-primary underline decoration-2 underline-offset-4 decoration-vertical-primary\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/ai-companion-generative-teens-mental-health-9ce59a2b250f3bd0187a717ffa2ad21f\">Associated Press<\/a>. \u201cWhen you\u2019re talking to AI, you are always right. You\u2019re always interesting. You are always emotionally justified.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Parents warned teens aren\u2019t \u201cbeing challenged\u201d by AI<\/p>\n<p class=\"w-full mb-4 text-body-6 md:text-body-5 font-body dark:text-neutral-white external:text-custom-content-text external:dark:text-custom-content-text\">The report states that 33% of teens use <a class=\"hover:text-vertical-primary underline decoration-2 underline-offset-4 decoration-vertical-primary\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dexerto.com\/tag\/ai\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AI<\/a> for social interaction and relationships, including conversation practice, emotional support, role-playing, friendship, or romantic interactions.<\/p>\n<p>Article continues after ad<\/p>\n<p class=\"w-full mb-4 text-body-6 md:text-body-5 font-body dark:text-neutral-white external:text-custom-content-text external:dark:text-custom-content-text\">31% say AI conversations are as or more satisfying than real-life conversations, and 39% say AI chats have helped them build real-world social skills.<\/p>\n<p>Article continues after ad<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Chat GPT use cases - a robotic hand and ChatGPT logo\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"cursor-zoom-in\" style=\"color:transparent\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Chat-GPT-use-cases-1024x576.jpg\"\/>Freepik\/DExerto<\/p>\n<p class=\"w-full mb-4 text-body-6 md:text-body-5 font-body dark:text-neutral-white external:text-custom-content-text external:dark:text-custom-content-text\">Despite the widespread use, 67% of teens still say talking to people is more satisfying overall, suggesting most users still prioritize real human connection.<\/p>\n<p class=\"w-full mb-4 text-body-6 md:text-body-5 font-body dark:text-neutral-white external:text-custom-content-text external:dark:text-custom-content-text\">However, experts warn that heavy reliance on AI could have long-term consequences. \u201cIf teens are developing social skills on AI platforms where they are constantly being validated, not being challenged, not learning to read social cues\u2026 they are not going to be adequately prepared in the real world,\u201d said Michael Robb, lead researcher of the study.<\/p>\n<p>Article continues after ad<\/p>\n<p class=\"w-full mb-4 text-body-6 md:text-body-5 font-body dark:text-neutral-white external:text-custom-content-text external:dark:text-custom-content-text\">The findings raise concerns as AI rapidly becomes as entrenched in teenage life as smartphones and social media. With the tech evolving fast as regulations struggle to keep up, researchers are urging parents, educators, and policymakers to pay attention.<\/p>\n<p class=\"w-full mb-4 text-body-6 md:text-body-5 font-body dark:text-neutral-white external:text-custom-content-text external:dark:text-custom-content-text\">These concerns aren\u2019t limited to teens, either. Another study found that <a class=\"hover:text-vertical-primary underline decoration-2 underline-offset-4 decoration-vertical-primary\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dexerto.com\/entertainment\/40-of-adults-say-theyd-date-an-ai-chatbot-and-many-have-already-flirted-with-one-3213682\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">40% of adults would date an AI chatbot<\/a> and many have already flirted with one.<\/p>\n<p>Article continues after ad<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new report from Common Sense Media reveals that nearly one-third of teenagers find conversations with AI companions&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":297570,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3163],"tags":[323,1942,53,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-297569","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-technology","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114928874343735170","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}