Everyone may be worried about AI coming for our jobs, but the toll this technology takes on the young people shouldn’t be ignored.
While the European Union recently banned health-threatening AI tech, the US is behind on comprehensive federal rules governing artificial intelligence.
And new research has found an alarming link between AI chatbot use and emotional problems among children and teens, with certain groups more vulnerable to the negative effects.
Published Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, the study surveyed nearly 40,000 students in grades four through 12 in Ontario, Canada, about their use of AI.
More than 21% of the students reported using generative AI for “affective purposes,” meaning emotional support or advice about friends and family.
What’s the problem? Using chatbots for those reasons was strongly linked to “significantly higher emotional problem scores” — with students almost twice as likely to have clinically significant symptoms of distress.
The issue isn’t equal across all groups: The link between AI use and emotional problems was stronger among girls, gender-diverse students and black, Indigenous and other racialized students.
Dr. Consuelo Cagande, the division director for child and adolescent psychiatry at New York’s Northwell Zucker Hillside Hospital and Cohen Children’s Medical Center, said young people turning to AI chatbots for help with emotional issues is “very concerning” — a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10.
“Youths are progressively substituting the traditional social groups and traditional treatment models with these chatbots and these algorithms,” Cagande, who was not involved in the study, told The Post.
The larger issue, she added, is “a lack of safeguards or clinical follow-ups or crisis safeguards for those at risk who are using chatbots.”
Young people who turn to AI for emotional support also reported feeling lonely and like they don’t “matter” to others, the researchers found. Still, even when those factors were removed, the link between AI use and emotional problems persisted.
Cagande said that they may also fear being judged if they talk to a person about their problems.
If young people are going to use chatbots, Cagande recommends supervision, as well as education around digital literacy and the use of AI because of the potential for misinformation.
She also worries that some children and teens may be hiding their use of AI for emotional reasons.
Above all else, generative AI should not be the first resource for emotional distress or mental health issues, with Cagande adding it should only be used as a supplemental tool.
“If a child does use an AI chatbot, they should tell a clinician what they were informed of about their mental health issues from the chatbot and not necessarily take that as the final advice,” she said.
Otherwise, traditional models of talking to a physician who can help find resources or referrals to a mental health professional, as well as teachers or guidance counselors in schools, should be the first lines of support.
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