Children Who Confide in AI — Research on Emotional Attachment and How Families Can Approach It

4 min read日本語版あり
Audience
Parents raising children in a world where generative AI is widespread
Target length
~1,500 words
Status
Draft v2 (translated from Japanese v1)
Original
../187_ai_chatbot_kids.md

Lead

The question "can a robot be a friend?" was once philosophical. By 2024, Character.ai was reporting roughly 200 million monthly active users. Children routinely talking to AI and sharing their feelings with it is no longer an unusual scenario.

For parents, "how to navigate AI" is no longer a future problem. But the research that would allow definitive answers — "allow it" or "ban it" — does not exist as of 2026. This article is not a prescription. It is an attempt to organize what is known well enough to ask the right questions.

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