kids are roleplaying with ai and it makes me SAD

i used to roleplay so much with strangers on the internet and the community and friends i made doing that was so important to my growth as an artist/person. and now that we have character AI i see so many kids mainly roleplaying with ai instead of other people and it makes me Sad.

using ai to roleplay with your own ocs makes sense, or using it to do a specific scenerio you wouldn't want someone else to participate in, but using ai to roleplay the way you would with a real person just seems so sad. no hate to anyone who does this, i just have feelings about it.

I think in general this is actually more of a modern internet systemic problem that kids don't have as many kid-friendly spaces online anymore. i spent all my time on animal jam as a child, which gladly still exists, and i would coordinate roleplays on a fandom wikia. the community back when it was more active was mostly 12-16 year/olds and the older kids were generally looking out for the younger kids just in case. there was a lot of drama because obviously but at least it was a mostly friendly space for kids and teens. and now there's not as many spaces like that! so kids are turning to character AI because who else are they going to rp with? it is Sad! it makes me Sad!

 and also Frightened of this next generation. if gen z was kind fucked up from the internet then these gen alpha ipad kids are going to be insane and i am scared. glad im leaving high school before they get there but i feel like the internet is going to get a lot crazier in the next few years (besides the adpocolyse 2).