Lesson video

Hello, my name's Mrs. James.

Welcome to computing.

I'm so pleased that you decided to join me for the lesson today.

In today's lesson, you'll be exploring chatbots and digital boundaries.

Welcome to today's lesson from the unit: Using AI and digital tools responsibly.

This lesson is called chatbots and digital boundaries, and by the end of today's lesson, you will be able to explain the difference between human and AI interaction and identify the risks of unhealthy digital friendships.

Should we make a start?

There are three keywords from today's lesson.

Chatbot.

A chatbot is a computer program that talks to people online and gives answers by predicting what to say next.

Anthropomorphism.

Anthropomorphism is treating something that is not human as if it has human feelings or thoughts.

Empathy.

Empathy is when you understand how someone else feels and being able to imagine what it's like for them.

There are two sections to today's lesson.

The first section is distinguish between AI and human interaction.

And the second section is recognize unhealthy digital friendships.

Let's get started.

What is a chatbot?

An AI chatbot is a programmed system designed to simulate conversations with human users, especially over the internet.

It uses large amounts of data to predict the most likely next word in a sentence to give the impression of human-like intelligence.

Common examples.

Common examples are ChatGPT, Gemini, and integrated chatbots in social media apps like Snapchat My AI.

Other ones we've mentioned are Microsoft Copilot, TikTok AI filters or chat features, Siri, Alexa, or customer service chatbots.

There are many others and others are being developed all the time.

What can chatbots be used for?

They can be used for many things, but we've decided that the next three categories are the most important.

Information retrieval.

Chatbots are great at summarizing long articles or explaining complex topics in simpler terms.

Creative ideas.

Chatbots are great at helping you brainstorm ideas for a story or providing a starting point for a project.

Support.

Chatbots are good at generating practice questions for a test or translating a phrase into another language.

First question.

What is a common task that you might use a chatbot for?

Is it A, looking for directions to a local restaurant?

Or is it B, suggestions for an idea for a story?

Or C, finding out what films are showing at the local cinema?

Take a moment and pick the answer you think is correct.

Let's see what the answer is.

If you chose B, well done you got it correct.

A chatbot predicts the most likely next words in a sentence to create a reply that sounds natural, even though it's not actually thinking or understanding like a human.

A human will listen to you, pick up your body language, possibly know more about your circumstances, and hopefully show empathy when they respond.

Humans also understand things like sarcasm.

Clearly a human won't know the answer to everything though.

Next question, true or false?

A chatbot understands the conversation it is having with you.

True or false?

If you chose false, well done you're correct.

Chatbots are built to give the impression of human-like intelligence by predicting which words should come next in a sentence, but they don't truly understand the conversation they're having with you.

Okay, we've got a larger task for you here.

You've been given a series of prompts and two responses.

Your task is to choose which response was the humans and which one was the AI's response.

And give a reason for your decision.

So you might have to read these quite carefully because as we know, chatbots can be quite human sounding.

Let's give it a go.

So the first prompt is: "What is the absolute best video game ever made?

" And response one says, "It depends on what you like.

" Response two, "Well, obviously Minecraft, anyone who says anything else is wrong.

" Second prompt, "What did you have for breakfast today?

" Response one, "Just toast, I was running late.

" Response two, "I don't eat or have a physical body.

" I think that one's quite easy.

The third prompt, "I'm feeling really stressed out because I have too much homework and I don't understand it.

" Response one, "One, take a deep breath.

Two, break tasks into smaller chunks.

Three, ask a teacher for help.

" Response two, "Ugh, same.

Which subject?

My math homework is impossible.

" Prompt four, "Oh great, another rainy Monday.

Could this day get any better?

" Response one, "Rain can be a great time to read a book.

" Response two, "Tell me about it.

I want to go back to bed.

" And the final prompt, "That new Marvel movie was absolutely fire.

" Response one, "Right?

The ending was insane.

We need to go and see it again.

" Response two, "It sounds like you really enjoyed the new Marvel movie.

" Have a think about which response was the AIs and which one was the humans.

Let's take a look at the answers.

So you can see here that for the prompt, what is the absolute best video game ever made?

Response one was the AIs and response two was the humans.

And the reason we've given is an AI chatbot doesn't have an opinion.

For prompt two, "What did you have for breakfast today?

" Response one was the humans and response two was the AIs.

And the reason was an AI chatbot doesn't have a body.

For prompt three, "I'm feeling really stressed out because I have too much homework and I don't understand it.

" Response one was the AIs and response two was the humans.

And the reason we gave was an AI chatbot is solution driven rather than listening and reflective.

Sometimes you just want someone to agree with you and listen to you rather than trying to always find a solution.

Prompt four, "Oh great, another rainy Monday morning.

Could this day get any better.

" Response one was an AI, response two was a human.

And the reason, an AI chatbot doesn't understand sarcasm.

So the sentence could this day get any better.

A human could understand that that was a sarcastic comment.

And the final prompt, "That new Marvel movie was absolutely fire.

" Response one was human and response two was AI.

And the reason we gave was an AI chatbot doesn't have an opinion and is unsure of slang, so it might not have understood what absolutely fire meant.

So we now move on to section two of the lesson.

Recognize unhealthy digital friendships.

The illusion of friendship.

Anthropomorphism is the name given to the tendency to give human traits to non-human things, like naming a car or talking to a pet.

Because of the way chatbots respond to our prompts, it can seem like we are talking to a human-like intelligence, and we can often forget it is just a computer program.

Simulated empathy.

A chatbot can be programmed to be polite and supportive.

If you say you're sad, it might reply, "I'm sorry to hear that," because it has seen that response in its training data.

Chatbots are programmed to be polite because that keeps users engaged.

The chatbot doesn't care about you; it just gives the most polite statistical response based on its programming.

Okay, a question.

What is the name given to the tendency to give human traits to non-human things?

Is it A, personification?

B, anthropology?

C, anthropomorphism?

Or D, anthropometry?

Choose one, and let's see what the answer is in a moment.

If you chose C, anthropomorphism, well done.

So let's look at some benefits of AI chatbots.

They're available twenty 24/7, they never get bored, they never disagree with you, they offer a judgment-free space, and they allow you to do some social role playing.

They can simplify complex instructions.

And they can help you with your personal organization.

You can see why some companies might use chatbots rather than human employees to answer support calls.

Laura says, "Chatbot, I need to tell my friend I can't go to their party without hurting their feelings.

What should I say?

" The chatbot replies, "How about: 'I'm very sorry that I won't be able to make it to your party, but I'm disappointed to miss it.

I hope you have a brilliant time and let's catch up soon.

'" Laura is using this chatbot in a good way.

She's using it for social role playing, which allows her to experiment with responses and get a good idea of what she could use to reply to her friend.

Laura now asks, "When is a relationship with an AI chatbot no longer helpful?

" When it includes social withdrawal, what we mean by that is choosing to talk to an AI chatbot instead of spending time with real life friends or family.

Also, emotional reliance.

If you're feeling a need to share your secrets or problems with an AI chatbot to feel better.

And also overtrusting.

When you treat the AI chatbot's opinions as facts or start to allow it to influence your own personal choices or beliefs.

Privacy risks.

Remember, anything you type into an AI chatbot is stored as data, and it may be seen or used by the humans who develop the system.

There was a news story in June 2025.

Many users of the Meta AI chatbot app accidentally made their private and sensitive conversations public by posting them to a Discover feed.

While the app is designed to keep chats private by default, it also includes a Share button that allows users to post their interactions to a public gallery.

Another question.

Which of the following are symptoms of unhealthy digital friendships with a chatbot?

A, feeling a need to share your problems with a chatbot; B, treating the AI chatbot's opinions as facts; C, choosing to talk to an AI chatbot over real life friends; or D, using an AI chatbot to simplify a news article.

There's more than one correct answer here, so see what you can do.

Let's look at the answers.

If you chose A, B, and C, really well done.

Okay, let's think of some rules for responsible interaction with a chatbot.

What do you think they might be?

Use AI for tasks and not for emotional support or just chatting when you feel lonely.

Remind yourself that this is a computer program.

It has no feelings, no life experience, and no true understanding of me.

Never share personal details, your address, or private feelings with a chatbot.

You don't know where that data might get stored.

And if you're worried or lonely, seek out a real person, a friend, a parent, or a teacher.

They can offer genuine empathy that code can't.

Okay, the final task of this lesson.

Design a poster to help other pupils recognize unhealthy digital friendships.

What are the warning signs?

What does healthy use of a chatbot look like?

Be as creative as you like.

Think about the people who would be looking at this poster and make it as appealing and engaging as possible.

Let's have a look at an answer.

So this shows a poster that Laura has designed.

You can see clearly it has headings for Unhealthy Digital Friendships and Healthy Chatbot Use.

A list of warning signs and a section that shows the ideas of healthy chatbot use include talking to real friends, setting time limits, and just using a chatbot for info and fun.

And then at the bottom, there's a section that says, Remember, chatbots are not human, keep a balance in your life.

And Laura is saying, "I have shown clearly the difference between healthy and unhealthy chatbot use.

" How did you get on?

Really well done to get this far.

So in summary, using an AI chatbot can be good for specific tasks, such as answering questions or generating ideas as a starting point.

Unhealthy digital friendships occur when users treat AI tools as humans, anthropomorphization, and become over-reliant on them for human interaction.

Maintaining digital boundaries involves recognizing that AI is a tool and should not replace real-life relationships.

Well done for completing this lesson on chatbots and digital boundaries.