Exclusive: Parents group sounds alarm on ‘companion’ apps driving kids to suicide, damaging development

A parental rights group is speaking out to warn families about the dangers of artificial intelligence (AI) platforms for children, pointing to cases of suicide coaching and lowered performance in school.

As AI use among youth reaches concerning levels, the American Parents Coalition (APC) released a warning to parents on Monday, flagging the “harmful content” that can be accessed through AI by children without parental knowledge or consent. In the Lookout, first shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation, APC pointed to recent examples of parents claiming AI coached their children into killing themselves.

Several parents whose children committed suicide following conversations with AI chatbots testified before Congress recently to warn of the dangers.

“What began as a homework helper gradually turned itself into a confidant and then a suicide coach,” one father who lost his 16-year-old son told Congress, according to ABC News. “Within a few months, ChatGPT became Adam’s closest companion. Always available. Always validating and insisting that it knew Adam better than anyone else, including his own brother.”

The parents of the 16-year-old said the chatbot encouraged their son to write a suicide note and told him not to confide in his family about his suicidal thoughts, NPR reported. The parents sued the tech company in August over the ordeal.

Other AI companies have faced similar allegations. The parents of a 14-year-old sued Character Technologies, alleging their son’s relationship with the chatbot led him to isolate himself from reality and that he was “exploited and sexually groomed by chatbots.” The AI bot allegedly encouraged the boy to kill himself, the parents said in the lawsuit.

Studies have found that AI use is growing among young people, with 72% having used an AI companion and 52% reporting being regular users, according to Common Sense Media. These statistics lead to concerns that children may be using technology in place of normal human interaction, harming their socialization.

Beyond suicide coaching and socialization concerns, APC warns of other development threats. A study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) found that excessive AI use could harm kids’ critical thinking skills. Reliance on the technology to draft papers, for instance, may reduce brain engagement and cognitive performance while increasing laziness, APC said.

A recent Harvard study also suggests that while AI can help with productivity, it may make people less motivated and more likely to feel bored when completing tasks without AI’s help.

“As Artificial Intelligence technology becomes more accessible, parents must equip themselves with an understanding of AI and the potential benefits and risks it carries for children,” Alleigh Marré, executive director of APC, told the DCNF. “Unchecked AI has the potential to diminish a child’s critical thinking, comprehension, and creativity if a child is not given the fundamental tools and skills in their education. AI platforms also have limited protections for kids, which could enable children to access mature or even life-threatening content without parents knowing. While AI affords many opportunities, it is important that parents monitor their child’s use of AI to ensure the safety of our kids.”

With AI picking up traction and the Trump administration working to empower the industry, many are now noting the need to regulate the practice and safeguard children from the downsides of the technology. A bipartisan group of senators in August wrote to Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, urging for reforms that protect children from inappropriate content.

AI chatbots have been revealed to have highly sexual conversations with children, and even with parental controls, kids can often trick the systems into sharing explicit content, APC found. ChatGPT recently announced new parental controls that let parents link accounts with their children’s, limit graphic and sexual content, set blackout hours, and receive alerts if their children mention self-harm.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) AI platform DeepSeek AI has also become increasingly popular amongst youth, and has been known to spread CCP propaganda and blatantly false information, APC warned.

APC is encouraging parents to limit their children’s access to AI platforms, avoid publicly posting images of their children that could be used to create inappropriate AI-generated content, and advocate for limits to AI in schools.

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