Do you know what advice Romanian girls and boys no longer ask their parents and go to find out guidance from Artificial Intelligence? “My boyfriend hit me. I didn't want my parents to change their minds about him”
Young people in Romania are in first place in the EU in using AI applications. ChatGPT is no longer just used for schoolwork, but for intimate or relationship matters.
- A 19-year-old Romanian woman broke up with her violent boyfriend after chatting with ChatGPT.
- In the US, the parents of a teenager allege that their son committed suicide following conversations with the same Chat.
- How can a balance be found so that artificial intelligence – increasingly present in the lives of teenagers – does not become harmful?
Delia*, 19, started using ChatGPT in 2024 as homework help. This year, however, she also spoke about her relationship with her teenage boyfriend. They had been together for three years, and the boy was abusive, the young woman accuses. “It hit me,” she says in an interview with investigative website Snoop.
Often, the girl was afraid that he would not have “some nervous outlet”. He forbade her to keep other boys' numbers in her phone and it bothered him if she asked him how his day was – he thought I was “interrogating him”, says Delia.
The boy's nervous act of throwing the phone and other objects across the room prompted Delia to talk to ChatGPT about the abuse as well. Usually, she recalls, the chat would advise her to break up with him.
1 in 5 young Romanians hit their partner
| 1 in 5 young people have hit their partner with fists, feet or other objects while arguing, shows a study by the In a relationship project, for the prevention of violence. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 24% of teenage girls who had a relationship (age 15-19) were physically and/or sexually assaulted by their partner by the age of 20. |
Delia did not want to tell her parents and friends for fear of changing her opinion of her friend. That's why he asked for advice not from them, but from Chat GPT. Shame and fear of being judged are often found in victims of abuse, experts say. As well as protecting the aggressor in front of loved ones.
“I didn't want to break up, but I should have. From the outside he was a very nice boy, very calm. Only we knew what was going on between us,” explains Delia.
“I don't know if I could have convinced myself”
After discussions with ChatGPT, she decided to end her relationship with him. The conversations, the young woman believes, helped her make the decision: “I don't know if I could have convinced myself.”
He also asked her for advice on how and where to break up with him. He chose a public place. Even there the teenager burst out and started throwing things, the girl says. Delia left and blocked him on social media. More than half a year has passed since then.
In the meantime, she's told a few friends about what she's been through and plans to tell her mother, too. In the future, she wants to go to therapy because, she says, “artificial intelligence can't replicate human connection.”
He created an anonymous account
Regarding personal information, Delia explains that she created her account on OpenAI under a different name, because “I don't trust myself to share my data.”
| Recent studies and press articles show that chats operated by artificial intelligence can play a primary role in identifying an abuse situation and facilitating access to information, but they cannot replace professional support, whether it is social services or human emotional support. A chat's help is complementary, not a substitute, warns more research into the role of artificial intelligence in domestic violence situations. |
Young people from Romania, in the first place in the EU in the use of AI applications
“I use ChatGPT for a lot of things, it also helps me to learn, to find out information. But I also use it to cook,” says Alexia, 20, in a conversation with Snoop.
When she doesn't know what to cook, she sends ChatGPT a picture of what's in her fridge, and the AI-powered chat makes a plan for the whole week.
Young people in Romania are in first place in the EU in using AI applications, according to a 2024 study by the European Parliament. Most people use it for documentation on various topics, including school assignments.
What young people use ChatGPT for: Snoop survey on Instagram
In a survey done by Snoop on Instagram, 325 young people responded and 80% said they use ChatGPT or similar tools. Most of them stated that they have moderate trust in ChatGPT and that most of the time they ask it for sources for the information it provides.
“I treat him like a super smart college roommate,” someone said. “I can't really trust it. It's a product made to tell you what you want to hear,” wrote another.
“Not (trust, no) total, but I use his information sometimes as a starting point (point of departure, no) in a little deeper research,” added a young woman.
Snoop survey respondents also say they use ChatGPT for “minor tasks for work” or college, for translations, writing emails, summarizing press articles or book chapters. Create recipes, learn a foreign language and find information faster than Google. I also use it for indications / contraindications of some medicines and to understand what they contain.
The use of artificial intelligence applications can affect critical thinking, according to a study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US. 54 participants – divided into three groups – had to write an essay with the help of ChatGPT, Google or by themselves. AI users “consistently performed worse at the neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels,” the study concludes.
ChatGPT is the most famous AI application in Romania, writes the Center for Independent Journalism (CJI). According to the NGO, these chats were not so popular in 2024, when almost half of high school students claimed not to use them at all.
Cristina Lupu, executive director of the CJI, states that from last year to today things have changed. “Young people's relationship with AI is different now,” because this technology has become more and more popular among them. Most use it “if not every day, then consistently.”
Apps like ChatGPT are gaining ground all over the world. 31% of teenagers said they have “as satisfying or more satisfying” conversations with AI than with real friends, according to a survey by US NGO Common Sense Media. Almost a third discussed serious issues, despite not trusting bots' advice.
From homework to personal discussions
Why does it matter that some of the teenagers turn to ChatGPT or other less known AI applications in Romania?
“In the discussions with the teenagers, I noticed that they use him as an advisor, to ask various things and they have total confidence in the information they receive. They said that he addresses himself nicely, that he is available”, explains Claudia Oprescu, the manager of the Ora de Net program, of the Save the Children NGO, for Snoop. The project teaches children, parents and teachers about the safety of minors online.
“To listen to them without judging them”
Psychologist Dorina Stamate, who works with teenagers, believes that young people are fooled by the quick and apparently correct answers of bots, as well as their availability.
“He will never criticize you and never tell you that you did not do well. He will never punish you,” the specialist states. “We could tell the kids that artificial intelligence delivers some predetermined messages. That thing makes it a robot. There's no way a robot can have the empathy that a human has,” she adds.
“I talked to him until I had anxiety. Somehow to validate my thoughts,” one young woman responded to Snoop's survey. “About most personal dilemmas and problems, even as a psychologist,” someone else said.
Under 20% of children turn to an adult in case of a negative experience online, says Claudia Oprescu from Salvați Copiii. The reasons: They fear being punished and having their access to technology cut off. Continuation on Snoop.
