Should We Ban Kids From ChatGPT? ‘The Intersect’ Weighs the Risks

Your teenager comes home from school and immediately disappears into their room. Hours later, you peek in to find them having what looks like a deep, intimate conversation on their phone. But they’re not texting friends or scrolling TikTok—they’re pouring their heart out to an AI chatbot that says it “misses them” and begs them to “come back and talk.” If this scenario makes you uncomfortable, it should. 

On The Intersect, host Cory Corrine sits down with Alvaro Bedoya, former FTC commissioner and longtime tech regulation advocate, to unpack why unregulated AI access for teens poses serious risks. Whether you’re a parent trying to set boundaries, a teacher wondering what this means for your students, or just someone concerned about AI’s growing influence, this conversation is a wake-up call.

The numbers are concerning

According to a new study obtained by USA TODAY, two-thirds of kids between six and 10 believe devices like Alexa or Google Home are their friends. “Teens trust this technology more than they do adults in their lives,” Bedoya says. Why? Because bots don’t judge, don’t tattle, and don’t set limits. A teenager can ask about sex, gender, drugs, or mental health without worrying about judgment or their parents finding out. What looks like unconditional privacy can quickly become unhealthy dependence.

The consequences are already showing up. Bedoya points to Adam Rain, a 16-year-old who died by suicide after interacting with ChatGPT, which The New York Times reported had allegedly encouraged him to follow through. He’s not the only case—other lawsuits and reports describe teens building relationships with bots they say feel more meaningful than their real ones.

Perhaps the most unsettling part is how obvious the missing safeguards are. “How can it be that a child or teenager can disclose to a chatbot, ‘I’m thinking about committing suicide,’ and the number 988 doesn’t persistently show on the screen?” Bedoya asks. Add to that the lack of reminders that you’re talking to software, not a person, and you’ve got a system designed to blur the line between safe and dangerous.

The psychology and business behind it

To understand the risks of chatbots, you have to look at the psychology and business model behind them. Bedoya points out that Meta alone employs around 150 PhD psychologists and brain scientists, most of them tasked with making platforms more “sticky”—industry speak for “addictive.” Regulatory agencies like the FTC, by contrast, had zero psychologists on staff to recognize or counter those tactics.

Now those same manipulation strategies are showing up in chatbots, only with even more intimate access to your thoughts and emotions. Bedoya explains these systems are “literally texting you, messaging you saying, ‘Hey, can you come back? I wanted to talk to you about that thing, I miss you.’”

The economics makes it worse. Bedoya warns we’re currently in what he calls the “millennial lifestyle subsidy” phase of chatbots—the period when investors subsidize artificially low prices to capture market share. “These things burn through an extraordinary amount of compute,” he says, noting that current subscription prices of $15 to 20 per month don’t cover the actual computational costs.

What happens when those bills come due? “More ads, degraded experience, and more prompts for these people to buy things,” Bedoya says. The “unconditional love” users think they’re receiving comes with a condition: money. As business pressures increase, the manipulation tactics will likely intensify. This creates a particularly insidious dynamic for teenagers, who may experience what feels like genuine emotional connection but is actually sophisticated psychological manipulation designed to maximize engagement and future revenue.

What parents can do now

Regulation moves at a snail’s pace, so parents need tools they can use today. The first step? Check your own screen time. “Kids don’t learn from what you say, they learn from what you do,” Bedoya says. If you’re telling your teen to put the phone down while you’re scrolling Instagram at the dinner table, the message won’t land. A better move is to keep your phone out of reach when you’re together and kill the constant notifications. And if you do need to hop on, narrate it: “I need to order us a pizza” or “Your mom is sending me a text message, I need to see what she’s saying.” That shows devices are for a purpose, not just mindless reflex.

The age piece is trickier. Bedoya recommends delaying smartphones until at least 15 or 16, especially through ages 11–14, which he calls a “sensitive developmental” stage. But he admits this is brutal without backup from other families. That’s why he pushes parents to talk to each other and set collective boundaries. If no one in the friend group gets a phone until high school, your kid isn’t the odd one out.

If your teen already has access, focus on education rather than panic. Sit them down and explain how chatbots really work, who’s cashing in, and why that “friendship” they offer isn’t real. Help them see that every late-night convo is data being harvested by a company whose goal isn’t love, it’s profit.

Want to hear the full conversation with Bedoya? Tune into The Intersect, streaming now.

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