Conference proceeding
Who is Responsible for Teens’ AI Companion Overreliance? Reddit Community Responses to Disclosures of Teens' Overreliance on Character.AI
Proceedings of the 8th ACM Conference on Conversational User Interfaces, pp 1-6
21 Jul 2026
Featured in Collection : Drexel's Newest Publications
Abstract
Conversational artificial intelligence (AI) systems, including AI companion chatbots, are increasingly used for social interaction, entertainment, and emotional support. Users may experience these systems as quasi-social partners, raising concerns about dependency and developmental risks for adolescents. We qualitatively analyzed Reddit comment trees responding to posts in r/CharacterAI by self-disclosed teens (13-17) discussing overreliance on AI companion chatbots. We examine how commenters discuss safeguards and assign responsibility in these response threads. When commenters explicitly discussed responsibility, they often attributed it to parents and platform companies rather than to teens themselves. Commenters framed parents as gatekeepers and criticized platform governance and design choices that may expose minors to risk, while also debating whether restrictions undermine teens’ autonomy and the perceived benefits of conversational AI.
Content Warning. This paper includes excerpts from online discussions containing explicit language and references to distressing topics (e.g., mental health struggles or self-harm), which may cause discomfort. Reader discretion is advised.
Metrics
1 Record Views
Details
- Title
- Who is Responsible for Teens’ AI Companion Overreliance? Reddit Community Responses to Disclosures of Teens' Overreliance on Character.AI
- Creators
- Mohammad (Matt) Namvarpour - Drexel UniversityAnanya Mhetras - Drexel UniversityJessica Y Medina - Drexel UniversityMamtaj Akter - New York Institute of TechnologyAfsaneh Razi - Drexel University
- Contributors
- Thomas Eßmeyer (Editor) - University of BremenEffie Law (Editor) - Durham UniversityNima Zargham (Editor) - University of TorontoJustin Edwards (Editor) - University of OuluHannah Pelikan (Editor) - Linköping UniversityAnke Reinschlüssel (Editor) - University of KonstanzMichal Luria (Editor) - Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European UnionDonald McMillan (Editor) - Stockholm UniveristyMinha Lee (Editor) - TU EindhovenCosmin Munteanu (Editor) - University of Waterloo
- Publication Details
- Proceedings of the 8th ACM Conference on Conversational User Interfaces, pp 1-6
- Conference
- CUI '26: ACM Conversational User Interfaces 2026
- Series
- ACM Conferences
- Publisher
- ACM
- Resource Type
- Conference proceeding
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Information Science
- Other Identifier
- 991022196557804721