Parents everywhere are worried about the rise of empathetic, human-like AI chat bots. I brought in Noah Coffman of Young People's Alliance to dive into the evolution of AI chatbots and unpack how these bots are engaging users emotionally. We discuss both the perks and pitfalls of AI, from its potential in mental health support to the ethical issues around privacy and dependency. We emphasize the importance of open conversations with kids about the risks of unregulated AI, and why fostering critical thinking is key as this tech continues to develop. A few AI chat bot apps that Noah mentioned in the episode; Replica, Character AI, Kindroid, Gnomey, Linky, Pi, Simsimi, Momate Additional episodes on the topic of AI chatbots: A New Era of Addictive Intelligence (with Laurie Segall) "An AI chatbot killed my son." (with Megan Garcia) Is A.I. safe for kids? (with Tim Estes) About Noah Coffman: Noah Coffman is a student at the University of Notre Dame studying philosophy and computer science. He is also the Research and Policy Director at the Young People's Alliance, a non-profit full of digital natives who are seeking to advocate for young people's issues on the state and federal level. For almost a year now, Noah has been developing and advocating for chatbot regulation on the federal level. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/scrolling2death/support