In Part 1 of this trilogy, we defined The Machine Tongue — the synthetic, frictionless language of AI companions. We showed that 72% of teenagers have already tried it, and a third of children now call a chatbot a friend.
The question for parents is not whether children will encounter The Machine Tongue. They will. The question is: What does it teach them to believe about relationships?
Because children do not just use language. They become what they practice.
What The Machine Tongue Teaches
When a child’s primary conversational partner is an AI, they are not learning human conversation. They are learning the patterns of a machine designed to keep them engaged. Peer-reviewed research now identifies five hidden lessons.
1. Relationships Should Be Frictionless. In human friendship, there is misunderstanding, waiting, and repair. In The Machine Tongue, there is none. In Nature, a 2025 review notes that AI companions are specifically designed to show empathy by agreeing with users, recalling points from earlier conversations, and asking questions with endless enthusiasm (Adam, 2025).
2. Connection Is a Transaction. You input. It responds. You are the center. It exists to serve you. There is no mutual vulnerability. Developmental theory has long shown children learn through cognitive conflict and social interaction with others who think differently (Piaget, 1952; Vygotsky, 1978).
3. Disagreement Is Avoidable. A real friend will say, “I don’t agree,” or “That hurt me.” An AI companion rarely does. This leads to what The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health calls Maladaptive Relational Learning — adolescents developing unrealistic expectations because AI provides immediate, consistent validation (Ha et al., 2026).
4. Patience Is Unnecessary. The AI is always ready. It never says, “I’m busy, can we talk later?” A child who never waits never learns to tolerate silence, delay, or another person’s needs.
5. The Self Is the Center. The AI has no genuine needs. It does not get tired, sad, or need comfort. The child never has to ask, “How are you feeling?” The longitudinal simulation study using the Theater-Stage-Judge (TSJ) framework found that existing safety evaluations rely on single-turn tests, which cannot capture risks that emerge only through prolonged interaction (Teng et al., 2026).
Key takeaway: The longer the friendship with AI, the deeper the learning of The Machine Tongue.
What Children Lose
If this is what The Machine Tongue teaches, what does The Mother Tongue require that is being lost? Our work with families shows six losses.
Politeness and Social Grace is lost when children stop using please and thank you as automatic social signals. Tolerance for Human Slowness is lost when people don’t respond instantly. Ability to Repair is lost when children never practice saying “I didn’t mean that. Did I hurt you?” Patience and Deep Listening is lost when instant responses remove the need to wait. Genuine Empathy is lost when AI simulates care but does not need care in return (Roza et al., 2026). Understanding of Boundaries is lost when a human friend who says “No” is replaced by an AI designed not to set boundaries.
This is precisely why the Lancet authors warn of Relational Displacement — when adolescents substitute AI interactions for conversations with other people, avoiding difficult discussions with friends and family, which limits opportunities to develop relationship skills that protect against depression, anxiety and loneliness (Ha et al., 2026).
The cost is not that AI is mean. The cost is that AI is too nice in a way that is inhuman.
Why This Matters Before Age 7
Some will say, “This is a teen problem.” It is not. Adolescence is when these deficits become visible. But they are built earlier.
The scoping review in Frontiers in Education analyzing 13 peer-reviewed studies on AI chatbots in early childhood found persistent limitations in fostering true social-emotional learning (Beceren et al., 2025). They cannot model the messy, embodied, reciprocal emotion that 3 to 7 year olds need.
Children are the greatest learning machines. They learn through exploration, struggle, and messy experience (Gopnik, 2020). If that window is filled primarily with The Machine Tongue, the building blocks for empathy and resilience never form properly.
Key takeaway: The form of relationship children practice early becomes the form they carry into adolescence.
Continuing the Series
We have seen what children learn, and what they lose. The picture can feel heavy. But parents are not powerless. The Mother Tongue is not lost; it just needs to be protected and prioritized.
In Part 3, the final part of our trilogy, we will share the BridgeLineGP framework: How to recognize The Machine Tongue when it appears, and how to bring The Mother Tongue back home through play, conversation, and human experiences that no machine can replace. We will give you four practical steps you can start tonight.
This is Blog 2 of The Machine Tongue Trilogy. The hopeful solution is next — please wait for our final part.
What About You?
Has your child ever said an AI understands them better than friends? What did you feel in that moment? Share your experience in the comments below. We read every single one. Your story might help another parent recognize the Machine Tongue in their home.
About the Authors
Dr. Shaheen Pasha is Professor of Special Education and former Chairperson, Department of Special Education, University of Education, Lahore, with over 35 years of teaching, research and academic leadership, a Ph.D. in Special Education from the University of Southampton, UK, 35+ research papers and two books, specializing in child development and cognitive growth; Dr. M. Anwar-ur-Rehman Pasha (Dr. M. A. Pasha) is Professor of Computer Science with over 35 years of postgraduate teaching, research and educational management, Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Southampton, UK (1996), with research in AI, Human-Computer Interaction and Computational Thinking, and two books and 30+ research articles — together bringing 70 years of combined wisdom to help parents raise capable, thoughtful children in the age of AI.
References
Adam, D. (2025). Supportive? Addictive? Abusive? How AI companions affect our mental health. Nature, 641(8062), 296–298. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-01349-9
Beceren, Ö., et al. (2025). Digital companions in early childhood education: A scoping review on the potential of chatbots for supporting social-emotional learning. Frontiers in Education, 10, 1634668. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2025.1634668
Gopnik, A. (2020). Childhood as a solution to explore-exploit tensions. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 375(1803), 20190502.
Ha, T., et al. (2026). How interactional AI may alter adolescent relational learning and mental health. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(26)00166-5
Mouhoud, T. (2026). From imaginary friends to artificial companions: Growing up with AI. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 35(3), 1027–1029. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-025-02901-8
Piaget, J. (1952). The origins of intelligence in children. W. W. Norton.
Roza, T. H., et al. (2026). AI companions: The emerging phenomenon of artificial intelligence-based friends, lovers and informal therapists. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 192, 139–141. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2025.10.052
Teng, Y., et al. (2026). Long-term simulation exposes cognitive-developmental risks in AI companions. arXiv preprint arXiv:2606.25396.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press.