At Stanford, dozens of attendees participated in lengthy chats about the risks, as well as the benefits, of bot companions. “At the end of the day we actually see a lot of agreement,” says Sunny Liu, director of research programs at Stanford. She highlighted the group’s excitement for “ways we can use these tools to bring other people together.”
Teen Safety
How AI companions can impact young people was a primary topic of discussion, with perspectives from employees at Character.AI, which is designed for roleplaying and has been popular with teenagers, as well as experts in teenagers online health, like the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital.
The focus on younger users comes as multiple parents are suing chatbot makers, including OpenAI and Character.AI, over the deaths of children who had interacted with bots. OpenAI added a slate of new safety features for teens as part of its response. And next week, Character.AI plans to ban users under 18 from accessing the chat feature.
Throughout 2025, AI companies have either explicitly or implicitly acknowledged that they can do more to protect vulnerable users, like children, who may interact with companions. “It is acceptable to engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual,” read an internal Meta document outlining AI behavior guidelines, according to reporting from Reuters.
During the ensuing uproar from lawmakers and outraged parents, Meta changed the guidance and updated the company’s safety approach towards teens.
Roleplay Roll Call
While Character.AI participated in the workshop, no one from Replika, a similar roleplay site, or Grok, Elon Musk’s bot with NSFW anime companions, was there. Spokespeople for Replika and Grok did not reply to immediate requests for comment.
On the fully explicit end of the spectrum, the makers of Candy.ai, which specializes in racy chatbots for straight men, showed up. Users of the adults-only platform, built by EverAI, can pay money to generate uncensored images of the synthetic women, with background stories that mimic common pornography tropes. For example, female companions featured on Candy’s homepage include Mona, a “rebellious stepsister” you’re home alone with, and Elodie, a friend’s daughter who “just turned 18.”
