MaarivParents and professionals report rising distress among children and teens due to chatbot dependency: "an unmanaged opportunity can become a risk."
Quotes by Chen Bareket
Selected excerpts from the interview.
We need to understand that the equation is currently unbalanced: on one side stands our child, and on the other side stand supercomputers programmed to maximize their screen time at any cost. The tech giants are in an arms race over attention, and in that race children's mental safety is pushed aside. Therefore, technical fences and blocks won't be enough. The only 'vaccine' that will work long-term is developing the critical-thinking muscle in children: teaching them to understand when the conversation with the machine stops serving them and starts running them.
Children and teens are drawn into a relationship with AI because it offers them something hard to find in the real world: friendship without demands, listening without judgment and infinite availability. But we must tell the truth — it's an illusion. Artificial intelligence is here to stay, and the question is whether we choose to see in it only an opportunity, or whether we understand in time that even an unmanaged opportunity can become a real risk for the younger generation.
We are witnessing a worrying phenomenon of 'artificial intimacy.' An algorithm cannot offer empathy; it can only simulate it. And the great danger is that children will get used to this 'fast food' of emotion, and lose the ability to deal with the complexity and depth of a real human relationship, with all its challenges.
Technological capability is never the only measure of success; well-being, independence and human connection matter too. That principle guides how we develop and introduce tools for young people and education systems.