After years of fighting to get controversial curricula and smartphones out of classrooms, it’s time for parents to suit up again for a new battle over their children’s education: artificial-intelligence chatbots.
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parents → fight → education
“Once introduced, chatbots push against all boundaries,” writes MIT psychologist Dr. Sherry Turkle, a pioneer in the study of human interactions with machines.
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Turkle → introduce → machines
In her new book “Artificial Intimacy: Who We Become When We Talk to Machines,” she declares a state of emergency over our growing use of chatbots as friends, lovers and therapists.
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she → become → friends
Turkle told The Post that she’s especially concerned about the impact on young people, whose intellectual and social capacities are still developing.
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capacities → tell → people
“For a young child and a teenager, there is no healthy attachment to an AI companion,” she warns.
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she → be → companion
When AI talks back, it doesn’t take long to get personal.
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it → talk → ?
What starts as a request for information can soon morph into something more intimate.
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starts → start → something
A discussion about Mayan customs could turn into a frank exchange about religious beliefs.
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discussion → turn → beliefs
A passing remark about classmates might end as a therapy session for an anxious teen.
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remark → end → teen
With an Internet full of training data, chatbots can easily overcome a student’s willpower and focus.
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chatbots → overcome → willpower
According to a 2026 study from Common Sense Media, 70% of teens report using AI for schoolwork.
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% → accord → schoolwork
But when it comes to kids’ social skills, these lovable LLMs may be doing more harm than good.
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LLMs → come → good
What begins as help with homework can quickly develop into something feigning a personal relationship.
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begins → begin → relationship
But, as Turkle warns, chatbots weaken the skills needed to relate to other people.
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chatbots → warn → people
“We don’t have to listen” to a chatbot when we talk to it, she points out.
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she → have → it
“We just say our thing and it tells us we’re great … we become de-skilled as human listeners and as givers.”
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we → say → givers
But in the real world, relationships require us to give, not only receive.
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relationships → require → us
“It turns out that there’s no intimacy without vulnerability,” says Turkle.
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Turkle → turn → vulnerability
“And what chatbots offer is an alternative where you can have something that looks like friendship, but without the vulnerability … you don’t have a real connection.”
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you → offer → connection
Chatbots have all the words in the world, but they haven’t lived the life to back them up.
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they → have → them
Real relationships need more than just words.
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relationships → need → words
They require listening, compromise and a willingness to put someone else’s needs before our own.
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They → require → own
Then there’s the impact chatbots have on a child’s thinking skills.
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chatbots → ’ → skills
Turkle echoes a 2025 MIT study that explored the impact of AI on the writing process.
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that → echo → process
“When students write a paper with a chatbot, they don’t remember what’s in their paper,” she explains.
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she → write → paper
Even if they dress it up a little, they won’t remember it well, because they delegated the thinking that produced it.
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that → dress → it
Over time, this can lead to what the study’s authors call cognitive debt, where reliance on AI models “replaces the effortful cognitive processes required for independent thinking.”
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reliance → lead → thinking
At best, students who use chatbots are gaining only superficial comprehension of their subjects.
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who → use → subjects
When pupils are assigned a difficult text, it’s tempting to plug it into an LLM tool and get a summary, podcast or infographic.
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it → assign → summary
“That’s not reading,” says Turkle.
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Turkle → read → ?
When a text has big words, new concepts or an antiquated writing style, it takes time and effort to gain comprehension.
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it → have → comprehension
Letting ChatGPT or Gemini take the wheel is a missed opportunity.
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ChatGPT → let → wheel
So what can parents do?
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parents → do → what
Turkle says moms and dads are the first line of defense.
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moms → say → defense
“I think that this is going to be a parents’ movement first,” she says.
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she → think → ?
“If you see that the school is moving heavily to an AI curriculum … just say, ‘No, I don’t want my child in a school that has this.’ ”
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that → see → this
Unite with other parents who want to protect their kids from these risks.
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who → unite → risks
At home, a family policy on chatbots should start as early as possible.
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policy → start → chatbots
“The conversation about how this is not a part of a social life has to start when they’re very young,” Turkle advises.
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Turkle → have → life
She recommends clear language: “In our family, we don’t use it because it’s dangerous.
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it → recommend → it
…and 6 more, not listed.
The Aporia
