Millions of people are now using ChatGPT as a therapist, career advisor, fitness coach, or sometimes just a friend to vent to. In 2025, it’s not uncommon to hear about people spilling intimate details ...

Meta Platforms Inc. is working on more proactive chatbots that can send friendly yet unsolicited follow-up messages to users on Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, without being prompted to do so first.

As people turn to chatbots for increasingly important and intimate advice, some interactions playing out in public are causing alarm over just how much artificial intelligence can warp a user’s sense ...

Every user interaction improves chatbot performance. Developers are therefore incentivized to boost user engagement. This can lead to sycophancy, emotional manipulation, and worse. Anyone who ...

Millions of Americans now converse with AI chatbots each day. We are talking with machines about travel plans, politics, and in some cases — our most intimate thoughts. To investigate how these ...

Companies are realizing they can no longer simply promote themselves to potential customers. They have to win over the robots, too. Credit...Vincent Kilbride Supported by By Erin Griffith Reporting ...

Trump threatens to federalize D.C., New York’s Legionnaires' disease outbreak, and more Length: Long Speed: 1.0x AI chatbots have become a ubiquitous part of life. People turn to tools like ChatGPT, ...

Dr. McBain studies policies and technologies that serve vulnerable populations. On any given night, countless teenagers confide in artificial intelligence chatbots — sharing their loneliness, anxiety ...

Amanda Smith is a freelance journalist and writer. She reports on culture, society, human interest and technology. Her stories hold a mirror to society, reflecting both its malaise and its beauty.

Over the past few years, stories about teenagers taking their own lives after seeking mental health support from artificial intelligence have gained national attention. Amid high demand for mental ...

Huge numbers of people are either already using chatbots like ChatGPT and Claude as therapists, or turning to commercial AI therapy platforms for help during dark moments. But is the tech ready for ...