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There’s a strange dynamic emerging around artificial intelligence. Research has shown that young people — who are typically the first adopters of new technology like MP3 players and the internet — are actually the most skeptical of AI. In fact, many teens seem to have deep concerns over AI chatbots rotting their frontal lobes.
A new study out of Drexel University shows just how self-aware the kids have become. In a wide-ranging survey of hundreds of Reddit posts, a team of information scientists found that adolescent users of AI chatbots are increasingly conscious of the negative side effects the tech is having on their lives, even as they sometimes display signs of intense addiction.
According to the study, many teens begin using AI — particularly the infamously addictive Character.AI — for entertainment or personal comfort, but inevitably find themselves overly attached and reliant. Across 318 posts about using Character.AI, the researchers found evidence of all six factors correlated to behavioral addiction: conflicting desires, salience or emotional attachment, withdrawal, tolerance, relapse, and mood modification.
“I hate how much this has affected me, but no matter how much I want to quit or at least take a break, I feel like I can’t because it’s gotten to the point where I feel like I’ll go crazy without it,” reads one of the posts they examined. Another teen wrote that “I want to have my normal brain back, where I can just deal with my emotions on my own and not have to rely on the bots to make me feel better.”
That self-awareness is striking, especially as teens describe how hard it is to stay off Character.AI despite being keenly aware of its harms. “At fifteen, I feel I should be living my life rather than constantly being on this app,” one of the posts surveyed admits. “I struggle with self-control and often find myself reinstalling it shortly after trying to quit.”
Matt Namvarpour, the study’s lead author, said that the uniquely recursive nature of these AI chatbots is one of the key factors that makes them so hard to quit. (While countries like China have begun regulating the kinds of interactions AI chatbots can have with kids and teens, the US, where the study was based, has been deeply resistant to similar measures.)
“What makes this especially tricky is that chatbots are interactive and emotionally responsive, so the experience can feel more like a relationship than a tool,” Namvarpour said. “Because of that, stepping away is not just stopping a habit, it can feel like distancing from something meaningful, which makes overreliance harder to recognize and address.”