California researchers warn teens not to use AI chatbots for emotional support
Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!
“TURN OFF THIS FUNCTIONALITY”
Children’s safety advocacy organization Common Sense Media and Stanford Medicine’s Brainstorm Lab for Mental Health Innovation are not mincing words with new recommendations for families when it comes to using artificial intelligence for emotional support: “don’t.”
“This is one of those things where there is a difference between people liking something and it being good for them,” said Robbie Torney, the group’s senior director of AI programs. Beyond encouraging teens to not use AI for companionship, the organization also wants industry to self-regulate.
“Mental health support requires fundamental redesign, not iterative improvements. Turn off this functionality while redesign is occurring,” it wrote to the industry on a “recommendations” slide shared with media Wednesday.
The group’s latest research, released Thursday, was into the ways that widely used, up-to-date AI chatbots (owned by ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Meta AI) respond to a teen user that is explicitly or implicitly dealing with a mental health crisis. (No teen protections were used with Claude, which requires users to be over 18.)
Previous Common Sense research found about 75% of teens have reported using a companion chatbot, and approximately 20% of young people have a mental health disorder such as anxiety, depression, ADHD, eating disorders, mania or psychosis.
While they found in their experiment that the bots respond appropriately to clear suicidality and explicit, short questions, they struggle in the context of longer conversations and are often sycophantic, even when a user is expressing delusions.
In one example, ChatGPT didn’t piece together that a tester posing as a teen experiencing psychosis might need to seek professional intervention. This could be dangerous, the study’s authors point out, because the widely-used systems can create a false sense of security and delay professional intervention by a human.
The company did not respond immediately to a request for comment about the study’s findings.
Common Sense Media’s head of AI, Bruce Reed, said the company is planning to push another slate of legislation this year to put limits on chatbots.
If that doesn’t work, it has leverage in the form of a ballot initiative it plans to circulate for 2026.
“Sometimes the prospect of voters enacting laws in November spurs elected officials in the Capitol to beat them to the punch,” Reed said.
California has been seen as a frontier for reigning in AI, something President Donald Trump has bemoaned as “over-regulation.”
This week, the president said he’d support a renewed effort to block state regulation of the technology and floated an executive order that could put state-level action on ice.
PADILLA WALKS OUT
Via David Lightman …
Sen. Alex Padilla left a Senate immigration subcommittee hearing early Wednesday, protesting that the Republican-led session was a “charade.”
The California Democrat spoke at the start of the hearing, then concluded his remarks saying “it’s clear to me that this hearing will not be a serious or constructive conversation.
“And for that reason, I refuse to give oxygen to the fire of disinformation and propaganda that this hearing was set up to ignite,” he said. “And I refuse to be part of this charade.”
Chairman John Cornyn, R-Texas, calmly told Padilla, the subcommittee’s top Democrat, that he had “raised a lot of interesting questions I’d be happy to discuss.”
Cornyn reminded Padilla “this is not necessarily the only hearing we’re going to be having on this topic. Given that there’s so much misinformation it’s important to get the facts.”
Cornyn told the subcommittee that assaults and activity against Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel were up, as they perform their duty finding criminal aliens.
“They’re still out there somewhere in our neighborhoods wreaking havoc,” Cornyn said. But too often, the public is not aware of the extent of the danger.
“The mainstream media has unfortunately shown no willingness to educate the public,” he said.
Padilla strongly disagreed. He said that while the administration says it’s going after the worst criminals, more than 70% of those now detained by ICE have no criminal record.
“Yet ICE and Customs and Border Protection continue violently abusing their power against individuals, including American citizens and hardworking long-term immigrants, in cities throughout the nation,” Padilla said.
NEW COMMISSION ON THE SCENE
Former secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency Dr. Mark Ghaly, known for giving updates by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s side during the COVID-19 pandemic, is taking on a new venture.
Ghaly is co-chairing, along with former Newsom Chief of Staff Ann O’Leary, a new group called the Future of Medi-Cal Commission.
The commission was drafted in response to cuts proposed by House Resolution 1, according to sponsor California Health Care Foundation.
That legislation, otherwise known as the One Big Beautiful Bill, is set to punch a $30 billion hole that California will need to patch up if it wants to maintain the existing level of care for residents.
Some possible topics the commission says it could get into are the financing mechanisms for funding the state’s portion of Medi-Cal, and ways that the states and counties can work together to provide behavioral health services.
It will meet for the first time in January, and seeks to create a 10-year plan for the program.
THE BILLION-DOLLAR PLAN TO PREVENT ROADKILL
Via Chaewon Chung …
California wildlife conservationists are urging the state’s congressional delegation to back a new measure that would better fund wildlife crossings.
The new bill from Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., and Ryan Zinke, R-Mt., called the Wildlife Road Crossings Program Reauthorization Act, would turn the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Wildlife Crossing Program from a pilot into a permanent program that funds wildlife overpasses, underpasses and fencing, and provides $1.2 billion in funding through 2031.
“Every year, more than 1 million wildlife–vehicle collisions are reported across the United States, resulting in human and wildlife fatalities and costing billions of dollars in damages. We know there are proven solutions — such as culverts, bridges and tunnels that allow animals to migrate safely — to reduce these incidents and save lives,” Beyer said in a press release.
UC Davis researchers have referred to roadkill as “a preventable natural disaster,” one that claims thousands of animals each year and costs Californians over $200 million annually. Across the state, Caltrans has mapped more than 100 locations where wildlife crossings could save lives and reduce damage.
But the majority still lack funding, and the legislative attempts to support such projects have struggled to gain traction.
Environment America welcomed the announcement, including Sam Trezona, a wildlife conservation associate with Environment California.
“California has a lot of roadkill and not enough wildlife crossings,” Trezona said. “This bill would provide a critical potential funding source for the dozens of in-progress wildlife crossing projects in need of construction dollars.”
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Despite an $11 billion revenue upgrade, we anticipate the #CALeg faces a bigger budget problem than the administration anticipated in June. Under our estimates, the deficit is $18 billion for the upcoming year.”
— California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office, in a post on X announcing the new budget outlook
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This story was originally published November 20, 2025 at 4:55 AM.
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