AI is not just for automating tasks or coming up with new recipe ideas. Increasingly, people are turning to AI chatbots for companionship. Roughly half a billion people worldwide have downloaded chatbots designed specifically to provide users with emotional and social support. And while these human-chatbot relationships might ease loneliness or simply be fun to have, these digital friends can also cause real harm by encouraging dangerous or inappropriate behavior—especially in children or teens.To explore the emerging world of AI companion chatbots, Host Flora Lichtman is joined by freelance science reporter David Adam, who recently wrote about the effect of AI companions on mental health for Nature magazine; and Rose Guingrich, a psychology researcher studying interactions between humans and AI at Princeton University.Guests: David Adam is a freelance science reporter based in London.Rose Guingrich is a researcher in the department of psychology at Princeton University.Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

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