CTE Workshop: Conversations about AI: AI Companions and Student Mental Health: What Instructors Need to Know

AI chatbots and ""companions"" are rapidly entering students' lives, often filling roles once occupied by peers, mentors, or counselors. A few tragedies involving young adults have been linked to the use of chatbots.  This session examines how AI companions are being used by adolescents and young adults, including the growing trend of turning to AI for mental health support, and the emerging evidence of both benefits and serious risks such as foreseeable harm and inadequate crisis response. We will review recent guidance from the EDSAFE AI SAFE AI Companions Task Force and other resources to map out what faculty should know about this evolving ecosystem, including boundaries between instructional use and mental health support, risk indicators, and referral pathways. Participants will discuss case scenarios (including highly publicized harms linked to unbounded chatbot use), consider how LCC policies intersect with AI companions, and leave with talking points and resources for framing healthy, critical conversations with students about AI, mental health, and safety.|

Source: Lansing Community College