{"id":55,"date":"2026-07-17T18:50:44","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T18:50:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/hypeduplibraries\/?p=55"},"modified":"2026-07-17T18:55:03","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T18:55:03","slug":"ai-a-tool-blurring-the-lines-of-companionship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/hypeduplibraries\/2026\/07\/17\/ai-a-tool-blurring-the-lines-of-companionship\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Horizon of AI: A Tool Blurring the Lines of Companionship"},"content":{"rendered":"

Artificial intelligence (AI) has already been integrated into our society in a variety of areas. Voice control platforms penetrate more than 50 million homes across the US (Kelly, 2018). Children are now growing up with these devices as everyday tools. The devices have been developed to be more intuitive and engaging across all ages. Kelly describes her son recognizing the role and usefulness of their at-home Alexa device as early as age two. As children grow and develop with these devices, they attempt to put the devices into a conceptual framework they can understand, often placing them in a space as \u201c…technology, but they also see these gadgets in psychological terms \u2014 as having emotions, as being capable of thought and friendship, and deserving of moral treatment (2018)\u201d stated, University of Montana child psychologist, Rachel Severson. She goes on to say that as AI becomes increasingly sophisticated and \u201creal,\u201d individuals may form deeper attachments to AI devices, blurring the roles they play in our lives.<\/p>\n

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https:\/\/character.ai\/about<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As AI chatbots increase in popularity and sophistication, from ChatGPT, Gemini, and Meta AI, their use of answering simple questions or assisting with research morphs into deeper forms of companionship. As of 2025, around 33% of teens are using chatbots for some sort of companionship (Robb). Forcing the possibility that minors have their first forms of mature relationships with chatbots rather than their peers. AI tools introduced at young ages, while children\u2019s brains are developing and easily influenced, bring additional danger to the interactions children have with chatbots. There are also privacy concerns as parties involved in “conversations” with chatbots have their data saved to the companies\u2019 servers. These can be intimate thoughts, feelings, and possible images while interacting with a \u201ctrusted\u201d chatbot. Though such scenarios may sound extreme, reports of teens committing suicide after receiving it as a logical solution from chatbots have come to fruition (Chatterjee, 2025).<\/p>\n

This begs the question of how we can prevent such harsh effects? As librarians, one of our core tenets is to allow access to knowledge. I do believe it is our responsibility to provide resources to the public about how this technology is impactful and how we can safely interact with it. Some options include: hosting open discussions, lectures, q-and-a’s, choosing an AI-centered book for a book club, and creating a well-rounded book display with additional resources. Hosting information sessions for parents on how to safely implement and monitor technology use, or how to talk to their teens about the dangers of such tech, are additional options.<\/p>\n

On a grander scale, it is a social responsibility of the tech companies creating and distributing such technology to put in safety measures that prioritize the wellness of their users over the profit of their investors. Such as advice that offers professional help or seeking trusted adults if thoughts of self-harm occur, or alerting authorities if a minor is thought to be in danger.<\/p>\n

Governments are considering legislation to combat the precarious scenarios chatbots may put children in. Michigan\u2019s Senate recently proposed Bills 757-760<\/a> to address how AI chatbots interact with minors. Additional legislation has been floated to set a minimum age for social media, potentially following Australia’s lead earlier in 2026, which raised its minimum age to 16 for social media sites (Livingstone, 2026). However, since their implementation, they have had difficulties enforcing the ban, and it is being contested in the Australian Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

The mental health effects of such technology are incredibly new, and we are learning every day how to adapt to its effects. It is a huge learning curve. As we see harmful effects across ages, geographical, and socioeconomic backgrounds, it is important to act in the interest of safety and care over monetary profit, which is a concept many companies appear to have trouble grasping. As educators and facilitators of knowledge, we should provide safe havens and various avenues of resources for the public that may not know how to tackle such new and daunting horizons.<\/p>\n

Briney<\/span>, J. (Host). (2026, May 31). CD339: Raising Screen Zombies (Ep<\/span>isode 339) [Audio podcast episode]. In\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Congressional Dish.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>https:\/\/congressionaldish.com\/cd339-raising-screen-zombies\/<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Chatterjee, R. (2025, September 19).\u00a0Their teenage sons died by suicide. Now, they are\u00a0sounding\u00a0an alarm about AI chatbots.\u00a0<\/span>NPR<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0<\/span>https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/shots-health-news\/2025\/09\/19\/nx-s1-5545749\/ai-chatbots-safety-openai-meta-characterai-teens-suicide<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kelly, S. (2018, October 16).\u00a0Growing up with Alexa: A child\u2019s relationship with Amazon\u2019s voice assistant.\u00a0<\/span>CNN<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0<\/span>https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2018\/10\/16\/tech\/alexa-child-development\/index.html<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Livingstone, H. (2026, January 22).\u00a0Australia has banned social media for kids under 16. How does it\u00a0work?\u00a0<\/span>BBC.\u00a0<\/span><\/i>https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cwyp9d3ddqyo<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pappini, A. (2023, January 27).<\/span>\u00a0ChatGPT: A Library Perspective.\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Bryant University. https:\/\/library.bryant.edu\/chatgpt-library-perspective<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Robb, M.B., & Mann, S. (2025). T<\/span><\/span>alk, trust, and trade-offs: How and why teens use AI companions.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0Common Sense Media.<\/span>\u00a0https:\/\/www.commonsensemedia.org\/sites\/default\/files\/research\/report\/talk-trust-and-trade-offs_2025_web.pdf<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Artificial intelligence (AI) has already been integrated into our society in a variety of areas. Voice control platforms penetrate more than 50 million homes across the US (Kelly, 2018). Children are now growing up with these devices as everyday tools. The devices have been developed to be more intuitive and engaging across all ages. Kelly … Continue reading A New Horizon of AI: A Tool Blurring the Lines of Companionship<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":870,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reflections"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/hypeduplibraries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/hypeduplibraries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/hypeduplibraries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/hypeduplibraries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/870"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/hypeduplibraries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/hypeduplibraries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58,"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/hypeduplibraries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55\/revisions\/58"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/hypeduplibraries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/hypeduplibraries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/hypeduplibraries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}