Raw LLM Responses

This feels somewhat hysterical and clickbaity. Looking at the actual article: "In fact, research by Male Allies UK found that 20% of boys aged 12 to 16 know a peer who is “dating” an AI chatbot, while 85% have spoken to one, and over a quarter even prefer the attention and connection they get from a bot over the real thing.  Most shockingly, 58% said an AI relationship is easier because they can “control the conversation.”" 85% having simply spoken to an AI chatbot is nothing surprising or meaningful in this context. An AI relationship being seen as easier...yeah, of course. Obviously it'd be totally lacking in so many other ways, but it **would** be simply "easier". Plus, this is a self-reported opinion among young teens. And then we have a whopping 20% claiming they know someone in an "AI relationship". Not that they themselves are. Just that they "know someone" who is. 20% purely second hand info from teenage boys. I don't think that's anything like enough to suddenly freak out and declare "Gen Alpha are just dating AI bots!" Plus, from the way it's phrased, it doesn't seem to exclude actual relationships with people. Someone could do both (and with 12-16 year old boys, it wouldn't be surprising if they were lacking in real experience). This seems like saying that anyone who played a game with a dating aspect "prefers dating video games to real people". This isn't to say AI chatbots and their impact aren't an issue, but we shouldn't be drawing sweeping, over-reactionary conclusions.