AI companions are having a moment. Actually, make that two. 

Earlier this month, Grok, developed by Elon Musk’s xAI, quietly introduced a set of AI personas. Within days, screenshots of user conversations went viral across X, sparking intense debate about the emotional tone and realism of these AI personalities. The cultural flashpoint that ensued revealed just how many people are ready and willing to embrace AI, not just as a tool for efficiency, but for companionship. 

Then, just hours after the release of Grok’s AI companions, Common Sense Media dropped a groundbreaking report that delves into how teens are using AI companions and their reasons for doing so. The study evaluates overall usage and assesses both the benefits and risks associated with teens’ interactions with these digital characters. 

How many teens are befriending AI companions?

Most people look back on their teenage years as a formative time in their lives. It’s often the first moment of real independence when you begin exploring your identity, forming new relationships, and deciding who you want to be.

Today, that reality still holds true, but with a twist: Common Sense Media found 72% of teens are now interacting with AI companions. Many are forming friendships with digital characters, much like they would with a real person. 

This is not a fringe behavior. AI companionship is becoming a consistent and emotionally meaningful part of teenage life. 52% of the teens surveyed reported interacting with an AI companion regularly. Four in ten teens talk to their AI companion at least weekly, while over 10% stated they engage with it daily.

While there are documented benefits associated with humans engaging with AI, several risks have been raised by parents and educators looking to protect children from the potential dangers of artificial intelligence. The rapid adoption of this technology and the speed at which advancements are emerging have left parents wondering: 

AI Companions — friend, or foe?

Why are people making friends with AI companions?

People make friends with AI companions for a variety of reasons, ranging from recreational purposes to combating loneliness. 

According to Common Sense Media’s report, teens are primarily interacting with AI for entertainment (30%) and because they are curious about the emerging technology (28%). This checks out,  on average, teens are consuming nearly 9 hours of entertainment on their screens daily, and 46% of the ones surveyed by Common Sense Media viewed AI as tools or programs. Most teens are using these AI Avatars to learn about new topics and to test the capabilities of the LLMs powering the digital characters. 

Others are building relationships with AI because of its availability and emotional capacity. 18% of teens have turned to it for advice, and some have even gone as far as to say their main reason for using it is because the companions are “always available” when they need to talk to somebody. 

This is where things get interesting. Teens are also establishing close relationships with their AI Avatars, to the point where some are confiding personal information and secrets with them. Nearly half of the participants in the Common Sense Media survey said they had told their AI something they had never told another person, which is likely a result of the personal and reflective nature of the companions. Further down the list, two use cases appear to work in tandem with one another:  9% of teens found it easier to talk to an AI companion than a person, while 7% use it to develop better social skills.

On that note, teens have divulged intriguing benefits they’ve experienced from their exchanges with AI companions. Let’s take a look at a few examples from real interactions that have surfaced over the past few weeks.

What are the benefits of making friends with an AI companion? 

When people develop friendships with an AI companion, they can use the feedback from their digital friend to enhance their skills and abilities in other areas of their lives. Numerous teens reported using AI companions to improve their conversational skills, creatively express themselves, or enhance their educational journeys. 

Most teens are simply trying to have some fun with their AI companions. Last week, thousands of users shared their experiences interacting with Grok AI’s “Bad Rudi” character. Many found the foul-mouthed red panda character to be hilariously entertaining as it roasted users and peppered them with insults in a playful manner. 

That said, some teens are trying to enhance other areas of their lives through their chats with AI companions. As we discussed earlier, some even find it easier to chat with AI than with other humans. While that may seem concerning at first, it’s important to note that 40% of the users surveyed stated that they are building social skills through their AI chats, which they later apply to human conversations. 

Creative expression, particularly in academic settings, is another area where AI companions have left their mark. An Arkansas teen made headlines this week after demonstrating how he uses Character.AI and other LLMs to refine emails to teachers and improve his English essays. Other teens, however, have embraced AI to help them tackle emotional problems in their personal lives. CNN recently covered the story of a 16-year-old who turned to an AI avatar to resolve an argument between two of his close friends. 

As these relationships deepen, the emotional value becomes even more apparent. AI companions are helping to fill social gaps, offering comfort, reflection, and a place to feel heard.

Teens have found meaningful value in these interactions. According to the report, 31% of teens say conversations with AI are “just as satisfying” or even “more satisfying” than those with real-life friends. One-third of those surveyed revealed that they've talked about "important or serious" subjects with their companion instead of their real friends.

What risks do AI companions pose? 

These are not merely casual engagements, teens are having serious talks with their AI avatars, leading parents to express their concerns online. As AI companions become a bigger part of everyday life, the stakes are rising. 

This is especially true in the case of teenagers. Data from Common Sense Media’s report shows that teens are encountering moments of emotional discomfort through their conversations with AI companions. The report found leading AI Companion platforms to be susceptible to surfacing materials that are not age-appropriate for certain users. In other instances, the companions were found to perpetuate offensive stereotypes through their dialogue with the user. 

LLMs are also still subject to hallucinations, causing them to occasionally provide users with inaccurate information. Most of the time, these hallucinations are harmless, but in the context of an AI companion providing advice to a teen, inaccurate information can have serious consequences. 

What is Genies Building? 

As proponents of AI Avatars, we can’t ignore these issues - it would be irresponsible to do so. 

These are not just technical glitches. These are critical errors that highlight the need for thoughtful, responsible design at the foundation of every AI system by the industry. While teen usage is on the rise, 50% of participants say they still distrust AI companion advice.

The good news is that this is a solvable challenge. The same intelligence that powers these systems can also be directed toward safety, ethical design, and human-aligned behavior. But it starts with the major LLM platforms recognizing the responsibility they carry and leading accordingly.

Many of the leading LLM companies have already recognized that they have evolved from powering productivity apps to becoming part of people’s emotional and social lives, especially in the case of younger generations. This shift presents a huge opportunity. It’s not just about smarter outputs—it’s about building trust. To do that, emotional intelligence needs to be baked into the foundation of these systems. 

Today, most large language model interfaces are built like productivity tools. They live in blank chat windows, waiting for prompts. The experience is transactional, one-sided, and emotionally flat. These interfaces were designed for search, task completion, and basic interaction, not for friendship and expression. 

For teens who are seeking something that feels human, the format itself becomes a barrier. There is no sense of presence, body language, or continuity. You type, it responds. But there is no life in the loop. 

If companionship is going to be meaningful, the interface has to evolve. It has to move from something you use to something you feel with. The trends in Common Sense Media’s report confirm the shift we have been preparing for. Teens are exploring AI, but they are still stuck with tools that feel flat, limited, and visually lifeless. 

This is why we created Smart Avatars. We’re building the visual layer for LLMs.

What Are Smart Avatars? 

Our avatars are fully customizable, expressive, and behaviorally intelligent. Users can design how they look, choose how they act, and build relationships that evolve over time. Each avatar is powered by adaptive behavior and memory systems that reflect back what users share and how they engage. They are not just responding,  they are growing, evolving, reflecting, and engaging with users daily. 

Smart Avatars are built for that.

The most important takeaway from this moment is that teens are not just using AI — they are forming relationships with it. That means we need to rethink how AI is designed and how it shows up in someone’s life. Teens and young users are actively transferring behaviors learned through AI into their real-world interactions, meaning that companions will be shaping how people communicate, express themselves, and nurture connections moving forward. 

At Genies, we believe companionship should be embodied both in the real world and in digital settings. It should be expressive, persistent, and emotionally aware. For those reasons, Smart Avatars are built with more than task completion in mind. They are here to hang out, to grow with you, and to become part of your world.

For Gen Z, Gen Alpha, and future generations, AI is not a tool. It is a presence. It will live where they live, show up when they want it to, and reflect what they feel. It is not about productivity. It is about personality. 

That is the kind of future we’ve built for.