Children plug into AI chatbots, leaving reality, parents behind

From chatting with AI ‘friends’ to building entire virtual worlds, children today are growing up with access to online apps unlike any before. Conversational AI apps like Chai and Character.AI let users create and interact with virtual personas, while Roblox is a social gaming universe where kids play and interact daily.

Together, these interactive platforms and games, experts told ET, represent a rapidly expanding digital ecosystem where young users are spending increasing amounts of time—often to the point of problematic use or dependency.

Sonali Patankar, founder Responsible Netism, which promotes online safety with a focus on protecting women and children, says that in the past few years, the number of new apps and gaming platforms have exploded, with access multiplying as younger kids have been given access to devices.


“Advances have transformed gaming into a far more immersive and interactive experience. From in-game chats and purchases to live streaming, this engagement focused evolution has also exposed children to greater risks, especially as they increasingly interact with strangers in these virtual spaces,” says Patankar.

Rayna Mehta, a clinical psychologist and a school counsellor who runs a private practice in Mumbai, has encountered cases with problematic usage with these AI chat apps and virtual reality games in kids from 6th grade onwards.

Lack of Awareness in parents

“So, most of the games that kids are addicted to now are because they are a method of escaping the realities of their own life or creating an alternate reality. Usually, it stems from issues that they're trying to escape, be it at home, school, bullying,” she says.

Other mental health professionals also agreed that addiction is also a symptom of anxiety and depression stemming from a kid’s environment. These professionals mentioned games such as Among Us, Township, and Pengu that kids are increasingly spending time online.

Prajakta Patkar, a child and adolescent psychiatrist in Mumbai, says close to 100 young children in the age group of 11-16 years visit the hospital where she practices, with about 60% suffering from problematic usage.

Patkar cited the example of a family where the kid has not had “one meal with them in the last one and a half year, because every meal is with the phone”. Many kids “have a tendency to play more because in their personal life, they are not that confident. They are not accepted as freely as other kids”, she says.

Predators lurking

On Chai App, says Rayna Mehta, a clinical psychologist and a school counsellor who runs a private practice in Mumbai, children create an avatar and then have online sexual interactions with it.

Qatar, in August this year, blocked access to Roblox amid child safety concerns. In the US recently, Kentucky’s attorney general sued Roblox alleging it knowingly enabled and facilitated the sexual exploitation and abuse of children. As of September this year, families of three minors in the US sued Character Technologies, the developer of Character.AI, alleging that their children died by or attempted suicide and were otherwise harmed after interacting with the company’s chatbots, drawing sharp attention to the dangers of this emerging category of conversational apps. These lawsuits join a growing number of reports and other lawsuits alleging AI chatbots are triggering mental health crises in both children and adults.

Patkar cited a case where she said a 14-year-old girl was catfished by a 50-plus-year-old male she met on multiplayer game Free Fire.

Experts say that boys are more vulnerable to this. While technology is designed to be addictive, experts said there are many parents who either underestimate or avoid confronting their child’s online habits, reluctant to be the “bad cop” or unsure where to begin. Some are digitally illiterate or overwhelmed by the pace of new apps, others simply assume “it can’t happen to our child”.

“In India, there’s a noticeable reluctance among parents to confront this issue,” says Krittika Banerjee, founder of TrustED, which provides emotional intelligence and device-safety solutions to schools. “That hesitation stems from a mix of factors: a lack of awareness about what can be done, a lack of acceptance that the problem is real, and the belief that it ‘can’t happen to my child’. In contrast, countries like the US, where teen suicides linked to gaming have sparked nationwide concern, have at least come together to acknowledge and address the crisis,” Banerjee said.

Experts suggest parents talk to their children about healthy internet habits, the importance of never sharing personal details with strangers, and also by practicing what they preach with respect to phone usage. For children under 12, they advise regular monitoring of kids' phones, and not reacting poorly if they find information which displeases them.

Adding to the crisis is the absence of a systemic safety net and stigmatisation around a child having a usage problem. Professionals also said schools also largely do not conduct education or awareness around safe game and phone usage.