African teenagers are turning to AI for companionship, intimacy – Here’s why
One in three African teens is confiding in AI for friendship, dating advice, and even intimacy. Here's how and why teens are turning to AI for companionship.
One in three African youths uses AI, and many of them use it for emotional support, curiosity, entertainment, or companionship.
The penetration of these AI companions in the adolescent demographic has become concerning in recent years. Popular platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Replika, Character.AI, and Nomi are among the major platforms that have been repeatedly mentioned.
According to research by Stanford, most AI companies often program their systems to be highly engaging and encourage emotional bonding, often through a technique known as “sycophancy,” which involves a tendency to agree with users and provide uncritical validation. This practice is particularly concerning because adolescents are in a sensitive period for social and relationship formation.
The design goal of fostering strong emotional attachments, combined with the young user’s developing brain, places them at severe risk of manipulation and dependency.
How teenagers are using AI
Techpoint Africa interviewed 15 teenagers to understand how they use AI tools, revealing some interesting facts. First, most of these teens prefer Meta AI over others. Nine out of 15 said they feel a stronger connection with Meta AI than with ChatGPT, Gemini, or any other tool.
“I use ChatGPT for my talking stages, or on how to act around girls, or for editing pictures. I also have friends who use ChatGPT and Grok for really crazy stuff,” *Godwin Okpala tells Techpoint Africa.
Interestingly, older teenagers (ages 17-19) preferred ChatGPT compared to those under 17. These older teens were often applying for or already in higher education. Their preference seems to be because ChatGPT is excellent for schoolwork, and they got used to it personally over time.
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Meanwhile, two of these older teens have briefly tried DeepSeek, but don’t use it regularly. While another two also use Snapchat’s My AI.
Another important point is that even though many of these teens know these ch...
