Joel Pearson

Each one of those is kind of on a spectrum of more stimulating and a little bit more addictive.

And then you get to social media and all this other stuff.

So you can think about these digital things on a spectrum of how addictive.

So AI companions, things are designed to be companions and young kids, hard no.

I would say just don't let your kids, you know,

Do you know if your kids are using AI Companions?

But the data we're seeing is like 50% of young people, particularly tweens, teens, are using some kind of AI companion.

So if you're listening and you haven't had the conversation with your kids, I think it's good to have that conversation because a lot of parents we find don't even realize their kids have an AI companion.

They think it's social media or they're texting with their friends.

Can you elaborate what that is?

Oh, right.

So, yeah.

So, there's the kinds of, you know, there's the chat GPT, the Claude, the Gemini, the sort of chat window, and then there's agents.

And then we have this other breed of AIs, which are designed to be companions.

And they typically are some kind of avatar.

A lot of them would be, actually, you can get any kind you want from characters, from cartoons, films, through to Elon Musk avatar, you know, avatar companion.

Yeah.

Some are very sexualized, some are not, so all kinds of things.

So the idea is this is like a companion you'll confide in, you'll talk to, and you'll build a relationship with.

And one of these products, Replica with a K, has been around for quite a few years.