How do teens really use AI companions? With more creativity than you might think

By Annabel Blake, PhD Candidate, Human-Computer Interaction, University of Sydney
Eduardo Velloso, Professor, Computer Science, University of Sydney
Marcus Carter, Professor in Human-Computer Interaction, ARC Future Fellow, University of Sydney

In 2022, the founders of chatbot startup Character.AI launched a platform where anyone could create interactive characters powered by artificial intelligence (AI).

The app exploded, quickly growing to more than 20 million users who created more than 10 million chatbot characters.

Read complete article

~	The Middle East crisis has exposed NZ to a global fertiliser shock. Where is its plan?

~	How Trump’s repeated efforts to fire Federal Reserve Chair Powell harm the economy – and make battling inflation harder

~	Australia’s aged care algorithm is under fire. At last, someone’s listening

~	Iran has a powerful new tool in the Strait of Hormuz that it can leverage long after the war

~	What is the 25th Amendment and could it be used to remove Trump from office?

~	The court ruling in Gina Rinehart’s mining dispute reveals a lot about the nation’s inherited wealth

~	The secret sensory life of plants: researchers are discovering how they see, hear, feel – and even remember

~	China: Pressure on Catholics Escalates

~	Iran’s military forces combine state-of-the-art drones and hackers with out-of-date conventional weapons

~	Employment data shows the early signs of AI job disruption are already here