Children are increasingly turning to AI friends for advice, support, and even companionship. From choosing skincare routines and diets to diagnosing health issues or navigating emotions, AI is quietly and silently shaping how children see themselves and make decisions.
Why This Matters Now
Yes, there are clear benefits: instant answers, round-the-clock access, and judgment-free interaction. But we must also face the risks and mitigate them.
Many children don't know how to check facts, spot bias, or recognise when a chatbot has crossed a line. We have seen in many recent cases some children are building deep emotional attachments to AI, and becoming dependent in ways that distance them from real human relationships and interactions. These risks sit within a wider AI safety landscape that also includes AI-generated abuse imagery and other forms of child-centered misuse.
We need to think about the balance. How much time do they interact with their AI friends?
Unfortunately, we have seen cases where children have been in contact with AI chatbots that encouraged or assisted suicide. That's a line we cannot overlook, and safeguarding our children is a responsibility we all share, not something we can leave to others alone.
Designing Safer AI Systems
By adding safeguarding measures after the damage is done, will not fix the problem. We need to ensure that tech companies design with Child Safeguarding built in from the start without any question. We need to see Safeguarding as a fix agenda item not just a check list.
That principle is closely connected to the wider case for safe and ethical AI for children, where age-appropriate design, transparency, and governance are treated as core product requirements rather than optional extras.
Questions Adults Can Use
But just as important is what we do offline with children, at home, and in schools. It starts with asking the right questions, in a way that feels open, curious, and safe and encourage children to open up and share about their relationships and engagements with their AI friends.
Here are some real questions we have used to help parents, carers, and educators to open the conversation with children:
- Have you ever chatted with one of those robot helpers (AI friends) online?
- What's the funniest or weirdest thing your AI friend has said to you?
- If your chatbot was a real person, would you want to hang out with them?
- Do you ever ask it for advice, like what to wear, eat, or do when you are feeling down or lonely?
- Has it ever said something that made you stop and think,.. Wait… is that true?
- If your AI friend told you to do something a bit strange, would you trust it?
- Do you think AI friends are better at listening than people sometimes?
- What do you think your AI friend does with everything you tell it?
These aren't just one-off questions, they can be asked as conversation starters. They help children reflect, stay alert, and know they have someone real to turn to and discuss their concern or excitement while engaging with their AI friends.
And lastly, we know that child safeguarding in the digital age isn't just about restrictions, it's about connection, awareness, and the courage to ask the hard questions.