It’s estimated that more than half of all U.S. teens are regularly using companion chatbots powered by large language models and generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The programs, such as Character.AI, Replika and Kindroid, are intended to provide companionship, according to the companies that make them. But a recent study from Drexel University published in the Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, suggests that teens are concerned that these attachments are becoming unhealthy and affecting their lives offline.
Teens are becoming concerned about their attachment to AI chatbots
