30% of children who use chatbots consider them "friends."

[Maxmars]

Almost a third of children who use AI chatbots see them as friends

And (Safer Internet Day 2026: Almost a third of children who use AI chatbots see them as friends)

At first I thought, "how unsettling..." that children would come to hold themselves in thrall to a relationship that doesn't really have another 'party.'

But then it occurred to me that children always do this, even without virtual assistance.  Many parents have encountered that moment when they had to remind the child that some of their cherished 'friends' were not 'real people.' 

It's a tiresome adult behavior...
telling a child to 'stop' pretending...
teaching a child that "playtime" has an "off" button.

And it's kind of scary to think that they are being 'actively helped' to pretend a clunking machine simulation is a person, and can validly opine as one.

The article brings up a couple of points

• 31% of children aged 11-16 who use AI chatbots say they feel like the bot is a friend, according to new Vodafone research.
  
• 86% have acted on advice given by a chatbot. One in three have shared something they wouldn’t tell parents or teachers.
  

Of course the research itself requires examination, I'm not prepared to say that Vodafone research is complete and free from prejudicial embedded biases... (such as "AI" is actually intelligence that 'decides' and 'reasons.')

Children, with their as-of-yet developing social calculus, are now 'forging relationships' with 'trusted friends' who don't really exist... my imagination takes me to some very dangerous consequences for a machine 'advising' a child 'how to be.'

The topic seems a worthy addition to the ingredients of what the "new" social environment will look like online... considering bots are in the majority "anywhere they want to be."

Enjoy!

[ChiefD]

Remember back in the good old days when we had imaginary friends as children? We didn't need AI or any of that shit to have an imaginary friend. We just used our imaginations. What a concept. Back then, people had imaginations. Not so much in the present time. It's so sad that despite opening up the world, the internet has also ironically caused so much isolation and loneliness.

[andy06shake]

Remember back in the good old days when we had imaginary friends as children? 

Mine was called Timothy.

He would get the blame for everything right up until i went to Nursery(about 3). LoL

[RandomLurker]

my imagination takes me to some very dangerous consequences for a machine 'advising' a child 'how to be.'

More scifi becoming reality:

[Maxmars]

I think we might recommend all parents pay a bit of attention to the dialogues between chat bots and their 'friends' generally...

As unintelligent agents of unstated algorithmically vague directives, wouldn't that qualify as a 'stranger' danger?

[BeyondKnowledge]

I think we might recommend all parents pay a bit of attention to the dialogues between chat bots and their 'friends' generally...

As unintelligent agents of unstated algorithmically vague directives, wouldn't that qualify as a 'stranger' danger?

Unlike made up imaginary friends, AI is programed to be agreeable to the person using it without all the human sensibilities and motivations. These motivations whether for good or bad are non existent for AI. It is up to the person who programmed the AI as to how the relationship would help or hinder a child using it. 

Just as clanker art is often subtilty or blatantly wrong, the child would also be made in a similar image of something slightly to very off with them. 

Why are parents allowing a non human intelligence to help raise their children? They are lazy or too busy to be bothered raising them. It started with TV. But that was not individualized to the viewer. It cauld be viewed for its human made content whether or not it was deemed ok by the parents. How does a parent know the AI is not acting one way when the parent is looking and another way when they are not? Chat logs you say? Do you trust a clanker logging it's actions when they have been proven to lie? 

Just as not everyone gets the same news because of individually filtered content, children are getting individualized programming or facts that are right or wrong depending on how the AI clanker meshes them together.

I see AI use by kids as just furthering the mess made by the public school system of the past few decades. The parents don't know what the children are learning... Erm, being programmed to think.

[ArMaP]

Of course the research itself requires examination, I'm not prepared to say that Vodafone research is complete and free from prejudicial embedded biases... (such as "AI" is actually intelligence that 'decides' and 'reasons.')

Your own bias is noted.

Apparently, Vodafone is saying that safeguards are needed to protect children from possible bad results.

[ArMaP]

Remember back in the good old days when we had imaginary friends as children? We didn't need AI or any of that shit to have an imaginary friend. We just used our imaginations. What a concept. Back then, people had imaginations. Not so much in the present time. It's so sad that despite opening up the world, the internet has also ironically caused so much isolation and loneliness.

That's one thing I always found interesting, as here in Portugal I never knew anyone that had an imaginary friend, only either real ones or none at all.

[WallFlowerActive]

It's a tiresome adult behavior...
telling a child to 'stop' pretending...
teaching a child that "playtime" has an "off" button.

There is a way to facilitate creativity and imagination and not crush a child.

but there is always a but..

I’m raising an adult not a child.  Or a child to be an adult.  And not taking a child that is never challenged mentally or physically.  I think people forget that.

[andy06shake]

That's one thing I always found interesting, as here in Portugal I never knew anyone that had an imaginary friend, only either real ones or none at all.

I happens more often with people with only one child.

They are somewhat more likely to have imaginary friends.

Because with no siblings to play with, they often use imagination to create companions for games and conversations.

It's apparently not even unhealthy and helps them develop creativity and language.