claremorell.substack.com
2025-11-08
In case you haven't been following as closely all the news stories about the harms to children from AI chatbots over the last few months, let me give you a brief lay of the land of what parents must understand about the threats of AI to our children that are already here.
**Content warning: some of the language below describing these chatbots is sexual and inappropriate in nature.**
Nearly three-quarters of teens say they have used an AI companion, over half use them at least a few times a month, and yet only 37% of parents know their child has used one.
What stood out over and over again in a recent Senate hearing where parents of child victims of AI chatbots shared their stories, was that the parents had no idea their child was talking to an AI chatbot on their phone. They had no idea their child had downloaded a chatbot app on their smart device. (One of the main points in my book, The Tech Exit, is how difficult it is for parents to effectively lock down a smartphone, with new dangerous AI apps it is all the more urgent for parents to delay and resist smartphones for children and teens entirely. The Tech Exit walks parents through how they can do that, and even how to reverse course on smartphones).