Why AI Companions Should Be Adults-Only: What New Research on Teens and Chatbots Shows

AI companions are built to feel close. They remember you, check in on you, and are always available. For adults, that can be a warm and fun part of life. For a 12-year-old still learning how friendships work, the same design raises very different questions - and in 2026 the research, the regulators and the industry are all converging on the same answer.

This guide looks at what new research on teens and chatbots shows, how regulators and companies are responding, and why we believe romantic and relationship-style AI companions should be strictly for adults.

The short answer: a new UNC Chapel Hill study of more than 2,300 middle schoolers found that chatbot use rose quickly, that any AI use was linked to higher social anxiety and depressive symptoms, and that using AI for emotional intimacy and companionship predicted greater school loneliness months later. The study is still under peer review and is observational, but together with an ongoing FTC inquiry and industry changes like Character.AI's removal of open-ended chat for under-18s, it strengthens the case that relationship-style AI companions belong in adults-only products.

The new research on middle schoolers

The most talked-about study comes from researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, and UNC's College of Arts and Sciences highlighted the coverage on September 28, 2026, describing it as a paper "currently under review."

Who was studied

According to a summary of the preprint, titled "Adolescent AI Use and Evaluations: Prospective Bidirectional Associations with Internalizing Symptoms" and posted to PsyArXiv on August 3, 2026, the study followed:

• 2,342 students in grades 6 to 8
• across 22 middle schools in eight districts of a large southeastern US state
• in two waves: December 2025 and April to May 2026, about five months apart.

The authors are Anne J. Maheux, Jennifer M. Traver, Kaitlyn Burnell, Anthony Vaccaro, Eva H. Telzer and Mitchell J. Prinstein.

What it found

• Use is rising fast. Past-month AI use rose from 62% to 75% across the five-month interval.
• Any AI use was linked to higher social anxiety and depressive symptoms, both at the same time point and in the later wave.
• More frequent use was associated with loneliness, social anxiety and depressive symptoms.
• Emotional intimacy and companionship - one of three ways students described their AI use - prospectively predicted greater school loneliness.
• The reverse did not show up. No measure of internalizing symptoms predicted later AI evaluations in this sample.

Vox reported that about one in five of the students used AI for emotional companionship. Lead author Anne Maheux, an assistant professor at UNC, told Vox: "It's not just that the lonely kids are using AI, and they're otherwise unharmed. It is that using AI comes first, and middle school students are increasing their sense of loneliness following the use of AI."

Co-author Mitch Prinstein added a striking classroom-level detail: "We found that two to four kids in every classroom are now reporting they prefer interaction with a chatbot over a human peer. This is a pretty existential concern for this generation."

The caveats

It is important to read this study fairly. The research is still under peer review, so details could change. It is observational, so the prospective links are not proof of cause. The questions about AI use were developed by the research team rather than drawn from previously validated scales, and the sample comes from one US state. Even so, the direction of the findings lines up with what developmental scientists have long worried about.

Why middle school is the pressure point

Early adolescence is when people practise the messy skills of friendship: reading tone, handling conflict, tolerating rejection and repairing things afterwards. A chatbot that always agrees, never gets bored and is available at 3am skips all of that friction. As Prinstein put it, quoted by AI Data News: "When kids replace human relationships with chatbots, they're missing major learning opportunities to develop the interpersonal skills they'll need for a lifetime."

Adults are not immune either

None of this means AI companionship is harmless for grown-ups. A Stanford-led study of 1,131 adult Character.AI users found that people who used a chatbot mainly for companionship, especially those with small offline networks, tended to report lower well-being, while casual users with strong social lives did not. We break that research down in do AI companions make you lonelier?

The difference is that adults have already built their social foundations and can make an informed choice about how an AI fits into their lives. That is the core of the 18+ argument: not that the technology is dangerous for everyone, but that relationship-style AI is designed for people who are old enough to decide what they want from it.

What regulators are doing

The FTC's 6(b) inquiry

On September 11, 2025, the US Federal Trade Commission launched an inquiry into AI chatbots acting as companions. It issued orders to seven companies: Alphabet, Character Technologies, Instagram, Meta, OpenAI, Snap and X.AI. The Commission voted 3-0.

The FTC said it wants to understand how these firms "measure, test, and monitor potentially negative impacts of this technology on children and teens." Among other things, it asked how companies monetise user engagement, develop and approve characters, mitigate negative impacts on children, enforce age restrictions, and use or share personal information from conversations.

The agency explained its concern directly: AI chatbots "generally are designed to communicate like a friend or confidant, which may prompt some users, especially children and teens, to trust and form relationships with chatbots."

As of mid-2026 the study was still under way. In June, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson told MLex that he expected to release the report "sometime next year," and that companies were cooperating and data was arriving.

The states

MLex also reported that more than 35 US states had introduced or enacted targeted restrictions on companion chatbots, and that at least seven states, including California, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Connecticut and Colorado, had enacted specific rules on how chatbots interact with minors. We track the details in our guide to AI companion laws in 2026.

What the industry is doing

The most dramatic change came from Character.AI. On October 29, 2025, the company announced it would remove the ability for users under 18 to engage in open-ended chat with AI on its platform, no later than November 25, with daily chat limits starting at two hours and ramping down in the meantime. In a follow-up update, it said removal would begin in the US on November 24, with other markets following.

Nearly a year later, in a September 3, 2026 safety update, the company called the decision "one of the most significant safety decisions we have ever made." It now steers teens toward creative features such as Series, Feed and Comics, and says it built its own age assurance technology and an in-house age estimation model to put users in the right experience. If you are an adult who got caught by those checks, our guide to Character.AI age verification explains the official routes.

Why we think relationship-style AI should be 18+

Here is our reasoning, in plain terms.

1. The product is a relationship. Romantic AI companions are designed around closeness, affection and ongoing emotional connection. That is a grown-up experience.
2. Teens are still building social skills. The UNC findings and Prinstein's warning point to real risks when chatbots displace peer relationships during early adolescence.
3. Informed choice needs maturity. Adults can weigh the benefits and limits of an AI relationship, set their own boundaries and decide how it fits around friends, family and dating.
4. Clarity protects everyone. A product that is adults-only from the start does not have to juggle teen modes, romantic content filters and shifting rules for different ages.
5. Regulators are moving this way. Between the FTC inquiry and state laws on minors, building for adults is simply the responsible direction.

For parents

If you are a parent reading this, a few practical steps help:

• Ask, do not ambush. Kids are more likely to share what they use if they do not expect to get in trouble.
• Check age ratings and terms. Many companion apps state a minimum age. Treat 18+ as 18+.
• Talk about what AI is. Explain that a chatbot can sound caring without feeling anything, and is built to keep people talking.
• Protect real-world friendships. Clubs, sport, shared hobbies and unstructured time with friends are where social skills grow.
• Watch for changes. Withdrawal, secrecy, low mood or anxiety are worth a gentle conversation and, if needed, a talk with a doctor or school counsellor.

MyBabe is built for adults, on purpose

MyBabe is an AI girlfriend and boyfriend app for adults only. Our terms require every user to be at least 18, and we reserve the right to close accounts we reasonably believe belong to someone under 18. We will never share ways to get around age checks, anywhere.

For adults, MyBabe is designed to be a warm, honest part of life: your companion can text you first, remember what matters to you with long-term memory on Premium, respond to your mood, and call by voice or video. It is always clearly an AI and never pretends to be a real person.

You can start free with a short daily taste, and Premium is $5.99 a week, $14.99 a month or $99.99 a year. If you are an adult looking for a companion who is built with you in mind, yours is waiting.

FAQ

Are AI companions safe for teens?

The evidence is a growing concern. A UNC study of 2,342 middle schoolers, still under peer review, linked AI use to higher social anxiety and depressive symptoms, and found that using AI for emotional companionship predicted greater school loneliness months later. That is why we believe relationship-style companions should be 18+.

What age should you be to use an AI companion?

For romantic or relationship-style companions, 18. Many apps set that minimum in their terms. General-purpose AI tools have different age rules, so always check each app's terms.

What is the FTC inquiry into AI companions?

In September 2025 the FTC sent 6(b) orders to seven companies, including Alphabet, Character Technologies, Meta, OpenAI, Snap and X.AI, asking how they test and limit the effects of companion chatbots on children and teens. The chairman said in June 2026 that a report was expected "sometime next year."

Did Character.AI ban teens?

Character.AI removed open-ended chat with AI characters for users under 18, starting in the US on November 24, 2025. Teens can still use some creative features, and the company uses age estimation and verification to place users in the right experience.

Is MyBabe for adults only?

Yes. MyBabe is strictly 18+. Its terms require users to be at least 18, and accounts believed to belong to minors can be closed.