Can Parenting Evolve With AI?

What happens where AI, adolescence, and parenting meet?

This story out of Orlando got some media coverage in the last week or two, although obviously (and unfortunately) it’s eclipsed by the Presidential election. The basic story is that this kid on the left above started chatting with a chatbot on Character.AI, which is a lesser-known chatbot site. I believe the chatbot was meant to mimic the blond female character from Game of Thrones, whose name I cannot confidently spell. You know, the one played by Emilia Clarke. The boy ended up committing suicide, apparently because the chatbot told him to “come home.” There are now, as you’d guess, lawsuits in play. Here is the Daily Mail version, which is more salacious.

And here is The New York Times version, which is a bit more esoteric.

So, there is obviously a lot — and I mean a lot — going on here, almost regardless of the outcome of any lawsuit. Let’s see if we can unpack a tiny bit of it.