{"id":291623,"date":"2025-11-30T15:38:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T15:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/291623\/"},"modified":"2025-11-30T15:38:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T15:38:10","slug":"were-not-keeping-up-cyber-safety-experts-raise-alarm-over-childrens-rising-use-of-ai-chatbots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/291623\/","title":{"rendered":"‘We’re not keeping up’: Cyber-safety experts raise alarm over children’s rising use of AI chatbots"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cyber safety experts are warning that safeguards must be put in place to protect children from Artificial Intelligence, as figures suggest over 60% of UK children now use AI chat websites.<\/p>\n

Charity Internet Matters says young people are increasingly turning to AI platforms for advice and companionship \u2013 often with no moderation and a clear understanding of the risks.<\/p>\n

While a few years ago AI may have been associated only with robots or supercomputers, today it plays an increasing and unavoidable part in our lives. The rise of Generative AI chat websites, which offer personalised \u201ccharacter\u201d interactions, is now causing serious concern.<\/p>\n

Chatbots \u2013 online websites or apps like ChatGPT that are designed for textual conversations \u2013 allow users to ask any question and receive a computer-generated answer.<\/p>\n

\"DanielSTV NewsDaniel says using AI can feel like a \u2018cycle\u2019 STV News<\/p>\n

Young people studying in Aberdeen say these platforms are \u201caddictive\u201d.<\/p>\n

Daniel said: \u201cIf something bad were happening to me, I would go to ChatGPT and try to find an answer. It\u2019s like, I keep searching, and I feel like AI really perpetuates that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey always like to finish off a prompt with, \u2018Oh, do you wanna know about this or that?\u2019 and that just leads on to the cycle of just wanting to find out more, and more and more. AI rarely tells you to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Enya says she uses it five times a day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t believe it\u2019s been that many times since January already \u2013 and we\u2019re coming up to the end of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cycle of it being addictive because it\u2019s quick and easy is really true. The model having to ask you questions back can be really enticing as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"'Addictive':STV News\u2018Addictive\u2019: Enya says she uses AI up to five times a day STV News<\/p>\n

Microsoft\u2019s AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman tweeted in August this year that there were reports of \u2018AI psychosis\u2019 a rise in unhealthy attachments between humans and AI.<\/p>\n

He warns that safeguards must be put in place now.<\/p>\n

Last week, Mental Health UK revealed that more than one in three people use AI chatbots for mental health support.<\/p>\n

Generative AI can also create characters that people can interact with online, which is causing concern amongst cyber security experts. Companion-style chatbots have surged in popularity, with CharacterAI among the most widely used.<\/p>\n

Cyber-safety specialist Annanbel Turner says these interactions could have serious consequences for children and teenagers.<\/p>\n

\"AnnabelSTV NewsAnnabel urges parents to speak to their children about AI dangers STV News<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of these characters are designed to behave in an enormously adult way,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re interacting with an AI character flirting with you or pushing boundaries, it\u2019s no different to being groomed by an adult \u2013 but you can\u2019t recognise it because it\u2019s your favourite character.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of the chatbot or generative AI sites do not have any age verification checks and aren\u2019t closely moderated, meaning children can access content that would be restricted on any other social site.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are going on these sites because they may see something advertised that piques their interest. They are not designed for children and young people, yet they\u2019re very easy to access.\u201d<\/p>\n

She explains that the interactions risk having an impact on a child\u2019s well-being.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt normalises increasingly harmful behaviour and makes this seem like an everyday thing. It shifts their view of how they should be treated, and their fundamental worldview.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UK\u2019s Online Safety Act, which came into place this year, was hailed by campaigners as a step towards stronger protections.<\/p>\n

But those working in online harm say technology is evolving much faster than regulation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not going away \u2013 so, how do we support children\u2019s development through their teenage years?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want products that are exciting and creative, that are good for children and young people \u2013 but this is not it,\u201d Annabel said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are spaces we desperately need to be aware of as parents and caregivers. We are not having a sufficient conversation about them. The landscape has completely changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"WhatsApp<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cyber safety experts are warning that safeguards must be put in place to protect children from Artificial Intelligence,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291624,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[554,733,4308,86,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-291623","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-technology","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}