S7 Ep4: Mind the Kids 'Adolescence and Appearance. AI eat your words'

AI chatbots can feel warm, human and tailored, but this brings real risks when the advice is wrong or incomplete, especially for vulnerable young people with eating or body-image concerns. In this Mind the Kids episode “Adolescence and Appearance. AI eat your words”, Dr. Florence Sheen talks to hosts Dr. Jane Gilmour and Prof Umar Toseeb.They highlight three big issues: we rarely know what sources the chatbot is drawing on; there is no built‑in safeguarding link back to parents, schools or services; and its list‑style “here’s what to do” responses may particularly appeal to perfectionistic or rigid thinkers, potentially fuelling disordered behaviours rather than challenging them.At the same time, young people are using AI alongside social media and official sites in quite a savvy way – they might go to the NHS for physical symptoms, but to chatbots for lived experience and emotional validation – so opinion and evidence are constantly blended. The Florence, Jane, and Umar argue this makes digital literacy crucial: talk openly with young people about what they see, encourage them to check information against other sources, and model responsible use rather than banning AI outright. They also call for independent, transparent evaluation of any AI tools aimed at youth mental health, and for developers to work with researchers, clinicians and people with lived experience so that future systems are both safer and better able to support real-world wellbeing.You can read the main CAMH journal paper discussed in this episode, “How do Artificial Intelligence chatbots respond to questions from adolescent personas about their eating, body weight or appearance?” https://doi.org/10.1111/camh.70047Get a free CPD/CME certificate for listening to this podcast by registering for a FREE ACAMH Learn account at https://www.acamhlearn.org Visit https://www.acamh.org Facebook and LinkedIn search / ACAMH Instagram https://www.instagram.com/assoc.camh Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/acamh.bsky.social X https://x.com/acamh