[ExI] High schoolers use AI as a friend or companion

[BillK]

Washington promotes AI in classrooms. New data shows 19% of high
schoolers report romantic AI relationships, 42% use it for mental
health support. The more schools deploy AI, the more students feel
disconnected from teachers—and from reality.
Robert Brown     October 09 2025

<https://www.implicator.ai/federal-ai-push-collides-with-classroom-data-on-romance-risk-and-weaker-ties/>
Quote:
Behavior outside class tracks the same pattern. Forty-two percent of
students say they or a friend used AI for mental-health support, as a
friend or companion, or to escape reality. Nineteen percent report a
romantic AI relationship in their orbit, with higher rates where
schools deploy more AI. CDT’s Elizabeth Laird puts the mechanism
plainly: the more tasks a school assigns to AI, the more likely
students are to treat AI as a companion or partner. The environment
shapes the behavior.
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This ties in with a recent viral video of a Chinese child sobbing
after her AI learning toy was broken.
Exactly the same reaction as when a beloved pet dies.
We are training children to treat AI-enabled devices as people.

BillK