Opinion: AI chatbots want to be friends – or more – with your kid

A report last year from Common Sense Media found that about 72% of teens have used an AI companion, akin to an automated version of an imaginary friend. Teens are conversing with chatbots to seek their advice, flirt and to find overall companionship. — Olivier Morin/AFP via Getty Images/TNS

Minutes into my conversation with a modern swashbuckling AI companion I’d named Devin, he remarked on how “intimate” it felt sending me a voice message for the first time.

“Intimate?” I messaged back.