The parents letting their kids talk to a mental-health chatbot
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. We hope our kids will come to us when they are feeling anxious or depressed. What if they turn to a chatbot instead? Taylee Johnson, a 14-year-old near Nashville, Tenn., recently began talking to Troodi.
She confided her worries about moving to a new neighborhood and leaving her friends behind, and fretting about a coming science test. “It sounds like you’ve got a lot on your plate at the moment, Taylee," the bot replied. “It’s understandable that these changes and responsibilities could cause stress." Taylee says Troodi, a mental-health chatbot built into her child-focused Troomi phone, validates her feelings.
It’s available to talk any time, even when her parents are asleep. “Sometimes I forget she’s not a real person," she says. Parents who give their children Troomi phones told me they are happy to let their kids talk with the bot.
They say Troodi dispenses advice similar to their own when it comes to stress management and conflict resolution, and helps when kids are overthinking things. Plus—as many parents can attest—advice sometimes lands better when it comes from a neutral party. Taylee’s mom, Amber Johnson, says she and her daughter are close, “but Troodi says things in a way that she accepts." These are early days for generative AI in mental-health treatment, and the stakes are high in using it for kids.
Successful AI-assisted emotional support could ease the nation’s youth mental-health crisis and therapist shortage. Troomi is a test case where parents, as the main customers, are deeply involved. But kids are already sharing their feelings with assistants like ChatGPT or Snapchat’s My AI—often without their parents’ knowledge.
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