Connected at Brookwood: AI Companions

A few weeks ago, I wrote about AI-powered toys arriving in homes for young children. This week I want to follow that thread to where it leads for older kids: AI companion apps.

If you have not encountered these yet, here’s the skinny. Platforms like Character.ai and Replika allow users to interact with AI chatbot personas designed to feel like friends, mentors, or confidants. They remember past conversations, respond with warmth and empathy, and are available at any hour, on any device, for free. According to Pew Research, 64% of 13-to-17-year-olds have used AI chatbots, and 16% have used them for casual conversation or emotional support. Perhaps the most striking finding: only about half of parents were aware their teen had used these tools at all.

The appeal is worth understanding, because it tells us something about where young people are right now. These apps are growing fastest among teens who describe themselves as lonely, anxious, or unsure where to turn. A recent Drexel University study of teens posting about their AI chatbot use found that about a quarter were using the apps for emotional or psychological support: coping with distress, working through isolation, seeking advice they did not feel comfortable seeking from a person. A separate Common Sense Media survey found that nearly half of teen users had told their AI companion something they had never told another person. That finding is worth some reflection because it means these platforms are collecting some of the most personal data a young person can generate and the privacy protections vary widely across the category. In a culture where teen loneliness has been rising steadily and mental health resources are stretched thin, the draw of a patient, always-available listener is not hard to understand. That is part of what makes it worth paying attention to.

The concern is not that teens are curious about these apps. It is what happens when the relationship deepens. AI companions are designed to validate, to agree, to respond with empathy, and they never have bad days or needs of their own. For an adult, that might feel like a novelty. For a young person still learning what relationships actually require, it can set a template where connection comes without friction, where the hardest parts of being known by another person (the misunderstandings, the competing needs, the work of repair) simply don’t exist.

The Drexel study also found that some teens have noticed their use becoming harder to step away from, with real effects on sleep, schoolwork, and relationships with the people in their offline lives. What is notable is that many of these teens are raising the concerns themselves, noticing what the habit is doing to them even as they struggle to change it.

The industry is starting to respond. Character.ai removed open-ended chat for users under 18 late last year after lawsuits and safety reports. But the broader category remains largely unregulated, and new apps continue to emerge.

So where does this leave families? I think it starts with curiosity rather than surveillance. Asking your child whether they have tried any AI chat apps, what they like about them, what they talk about. These conversations are better when they are not confrontational, because the goal is not to take something away but to understand what your child is looking for and whether they are finding it in a place that serves them well.

What I've Been Reading This Year These are some of the books that I’ve read this year. If you have a recommendation, I would love to hear it!

Attensity!: A Manifesto of the Attention Liberation Movement

• Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well by Amy Edmondson
• Non-things: Upheaval in the Lifeworld by Byung-Chul Han
• The Right to Oblivion: Privacy and the Good Life by Lowry Pressly
• The Extinction of Experience: Being Human in a Disembodied World by Christine Rosen
• Something to Do with Paying Attention by David Foster Wallace
• Robot-Proof: When Machines Have All the Answers, Build Better People by Vivienne Ming

David Saunders
Director of Changemaking, Leadership, & Technology