On the other hand, typical sex ai chat type platforms are not suitable for teens and have few protections to protect younger users. According to research, more than 60% of adult content platforms controlled by AI itself do not impose strict age verification procedures but rely on users' self-declaration in connection with the ease that minors have access. This security hole makes adolescents susceptible to sexually inappropriate content which drives a range of adverse effects on the mental and emotional development.
Parental controls can mitigate this a little, with software like Net Nanny and Qustodio helping parents to block specifically explicit content (or activities) or even AI chat platforms altogether. The flip side: just 45% of parents exercised those controls in a survey conducted for the company, pointing to how tricky it is to keep tabs on our kids online activities holistically. But parents who are distracted or fail to properly monitor those controls could, unknowingly, allow teens access to sex ai work — which would be concerning in terms of exposing kids too early to content that is more about inappropriate sexuality than romantic sentiment.
What is worrying to experts in the field of adolescent psychology, such as Sherry Turkle (2015), is “AI interactions can create an image of intimacy without relational depth at all.” Perhaps more troubling, this point underscores how these platforms could distort teenagers' perceptions of relationships to begin with; when the interactions do not actually involve empathy and understanding--which are essential components for healthy social development. Because being unable to replicate the way humans feel would corrupt teenagers views of relationships and sexuality with AI not carrying the ability to be emotionally authentic.
In addition to age-appropriate controls for AI-driven adult content, regulatory frameworks have not fully developed. While the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) regulates privacy for children under 13, and many sex ai chat platforms operate in a gray area of being only somewhat regulated to protect teens. Without a systematic legal framework to guide them, the burden largely falls on individual platforms — more than 70% of which fail to communicate minimal safeguards toward protecting children (fig. J1) reflecting not only gaps in regulation but challenges for better online governance (ibid.).
The complexities of AI chat are shown by sex ai, and the inadequate safeguards to keep such platforms safe relevant and from being a tool for abuse.