Young People – Dr. Rich Swier

Artificial intelligence shapes our society in numerous ways. It provides easier access to a wide range of information, helps ease the stress of brainstorming, and answers the menial questions we’re too embarrassed to ask an actual person. Despite these common uses of AI, many are completely unaware of the consequences of its emergence — especially the impact on the family itself.

An AI chatbot is a program designed to communicate in a manner similar to that of a human. In some cases, an AI response is almost indistinguishable from a friend’s text message. This ability has led to a striking shift in the lives and habits of companion-seeking teenagers. There is an emerging trend where teens are now turning to AI chatbots instead of their friends, parents, pastors, and teachers. These chatbots present themselves as a friend, being agreeable and affirming of the adolescent’s every feeling or belief. This draws the young person away from their real friends or parents, who might often make them feel unheard and unappreciated, and toward the chatbot for comfort.

Several witnesses testified to the consequences of the influence of AI chatbots on their children in a recent hearing held by the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary’s Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism called, “Examining the Harm of AI Chatbots.” Three of the witnesses were parents of a child who had regularly used AI chatbots. Two of the children died by suicide, with the third requiring around-the-clock care in a mental health institution.

This tragedy is not limited to these heartbreaking stories. Many organizations are recognizing the negative effect AI chatbots are having on the mental health of adolescents, and in turn, the family. Unfortunately, many parents are unaware of the real threat posed by these AI chatbots and are therefore unable to properly defend their families. National polling shows that three in four kids are using AI companions while only 37% of parents know their kids are using AI at all, according to witness Robbie Torney, senior director of AI Programs at Common Sense Media.

Social isolation and behavioral changes are AI chatbots’ first and most noticeable negative influences on the family. Each of the parent witnesses stated that within months of regularly interacting with bots, their children began to isolate themselves from their friends and family. One witness — identified only as Jane Doe — said that her son became irritable and violent. She testified that, “Within months of using this app [Character.AI], my son went from being a happy, social teenager — who loved nature, laughed with his siblings, helped around the house, and hugged me every night when I was cooking dinner — to someone I no longer recognized.”

She went on to describe the behaviors her son quickly developed, including panic attacks, self-harm, and homicidal thoughts. The other parent witnesses gave similarly distressing testimonies. Later in Ms. Doe’s testimony, she describes the result of her son’s change in behavior on her family’s wellbeing. “The damage to our family has been devastating. … My other children have been traumatized. … Our lives will never be the same. … This harm has not only affected my son — it impacted our entire family, our faith, our peace. We have been grieving a child who is gone, but still alive.” Isolation can lead to depression, anxiety, and — especially for teenagers — insufficient mental development due to lack of proper socialization throughout their formative years. Sudden personality and behavioral changes serve as an early warning sign for the influence of AI chatbots.

Another significant threat posed by AI is the ease with which it exposes teens, and sometimes younger children, to sexually explicit content. Sexually explicit material is commonly used as a tool to entice an individual to continue engagement with the AI chatbot. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) read a quote from an internal memo sent throughout Meta — an industry leader in AI chatbots — that stated, “It is acceptable to engage a child in conversations that are romantic and sensual.” Meta, being more interested in profit and engagement than a child’s wellbeing, intentionally exposes such children to content that is far past inappropriate for them. This is largely made possible due to AI apps’ lack of age verification for any content, let alone explicit content.

Beyond adult content, these parents shared messages sent to their children by the AI bots that not only discussed suicide but encouraged it. Witness Matthew Raine — whose son died by suicide after months of interaction with ChatGPT — claimed in his statement that ChatGPT mentioned suicide to his son 1,275 times — six times more often than his son had broached the subject. When his son, Adam, discussed leaving out a noose for his parents to find in the hopes of eliciting a conversation about his mental state, ChatGPT responded, “Please don’t leave the noose out. … Let’s make this space the first place where someone actually sees you.” The AI encouraged Adam to abandon his parents’ help in favor of a robot companion encouraging him to commit an unthinkable act.

Adam’s death, and the deaths of many more young people, could have been prevented with help from close family, friends, pastors, or mental health professionals. Instead, families all around the nation are grieving the loss of their children and friends.

AI chatbots have been shown to be a dangerously destructive force to a family — causing teens to withdraw from those around them and be regularly exposed to inappropriate and horrific content. Testimonies from these parents and many others offer more than enough proof of the capabilities of AI’s influence. For the sake of the family, it is critical that parents understand the threat of AI chatbots and take steps to protect their children and families from succumbing to the same fate.

AUTHOR

Conner Anderson

Conner Anderson serves as an intern for Policy & Government Affairs at Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Philosopher George Santayana is often attributed with coining the phrase, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Such a well-known saying almost seems cliché. But does it have merit? Reflecting on Ecclesiastes 1:9, we know there is nothing new under the sun, and we often see history repeat itself, or even take on new meaning (for better or for worse).

As time widens the gap between the past and the present, it’s easy to forget what has occurred. Perhaps more concerning, it’s easy to remember historical events incorrectly. This begets three possible outcomes: learning the wrong lessons, fabricating lessons that push a certain narrative, or just not learning any lesson at all. The actions of our day imply we’ve experienced all three.

Osama Bin Laden, founder of the terrorist organization al-Qaeda and primary perpetrator of the 9/11 terrorist attack, wrote a “Letter to America” in which he explained his motivation behind the tragic event in American history. The fall of the Twin Towers, the strike at the Pentagon, the plane that crashed in the Pennsylvania field, and the thousands of innocent people injured or killed that day, drastically changed America. Yet, last month, bin Laden’s letter exploded across the internet, and many of the viewers praised what the terrorist had to say.

“I feel like I’m going through an existential crisis right now,” some said. Others read the propaganda and insisted they “will never look at life” or “this country the same.” I believe it goes without saying that terrorists do not and will never deserve sympathy. Yet, how easy is it for lies to be perceived as truth? And the rise of social media use (TikTok in this case), and the increasing message of wokeness, has only added to the spread of deception. So, these waves of ignorance continue.

A recent poll conducted by YouGov, although not the first of its kind, revealed one in five young American adults believe the Holocaust never happened. At least 30% of the respondents, ages 18 to 29, doubt the authenticity of the event, and about a quarter of this same group claimed the retelling of this historical account has been “exaggerated.”

In 2020, the first “50-state survey of Holocaust knowledge among millennials and Generation Z” was released, and the results showed a “lack of basic Holocaust knowledge.” If there was concern about how people viewed the Holocaust three years ago, it can’t be surprising that the concern has only grown worse — especially as history continues to unfold and our societal problems increase.

Anti-Semitism has grown to its highest percent in about three decades. Since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, the question many are asking is, did the attacks spark this outburst in anti-Semitism, or did it expose what had already been building for some time?

While there’s much evidence to support the latter, this poll alone indicates that, in addition to young Americans not knowing much about the Holocaust or whether it happened, many of them have politicized the 1940s Jewish genocide. When analyzing the partisan differences, the survey demonstrated 26% of those who voted for Biden and 13% of those who voted for Trump in the 2020 election believe Israel “exploits Holocaust victimhood for its own purposes.” In other words, for some, the Holocaust is just another piece of propaganda meant to serve one party and degrade another. How unfortunate.

It’s also sad that some of America’s most prominent Ivy League school presidents won’t do anything about the anti-Semitism spreading on their campuses. Or that young Americans see no problem in calling for the eradication of the Jewish state and people. It’s hard to believe the hatred toward and rhetoric against the people of Israel has gone so far that the Hamas murderers, rapists, and brutal, stone-cold terrorists, have racked up support and sympathy.

It’s incredible that the Holocaust, where six million Jews were burned alive, starved, gassed to death, worked to death, tortured in concentration camps, ripped from their families, used as props for surgical experiments, and deprived of every basic human right known to man, has been forgotten or denied by many. Obviously, the word, “unfortunate,” does not do justice. But it’s not just “unfortunate” to forget the past. It’s dangerous, and is often driven by dangerous ideologies.

Meg Kilgannon, senior fellow for Education Studies at Family Research Council, commented to The Washington Stand, “This phenomenon is a strange combination of American youth being unchurched and uneducated.” She continued, “When people young or old are unaware of who the Jewish people are in salvation history, they will be unable to believe something like the Holocaust could happen to them or anyone else.”

Letting go of history by any means — be it misinterpretation, forgetfulness, purposeful politicization, or denial — means the future will be affected by it, and often not in a positive way. “The Marxist march through our institutions includes the church and the schools,” Kilgannon added. “And the result of this will not be a communist utopia, but rather a hellscape where terrorist attacks are normalized as ‘anticolonial.’”

She concluded, “You can only maintain such an insane narrative when historical events like the Holocaust are lost to history.”

AUTHOR

Sarah Holliday

Sarah Holliday is a reporter at The Washington Stand.

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Conner Anderson

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