[Added on May 5th, 2025: I recently came across this Common Sense Media article about Social Companions. Bottom line? They have rated social companions as an Unacceptable Risk and recommend that NO child under the age of 18 have access to a social companion! The rest of this post focuses on a specific “companion,” the Purrble, which does NOT meet the requirements of a social companion that Common Sense Media is referring to but since it fits the overall topic of this post, and is incredibly important for us to know about, I am adding it to this post.]
Here is their definition of a social companion:
Social AI companions are a type of AI assistant.
Different from generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini, social AI companions’ primary purpose is to meet users’ social needs, such as companionship, romance, and entertainment.
They’re effective because they tend to use human-like features (such as personal pronouns, descriptions of feelings, expressions of opinion, and taking on personal character traits).
They are also able to sustain a human-AI “relationship” across multiple conversations, attempting to simulate a conversation and ongoing relationship between the user and a companion, as if they were not an AI.
The Purrble, at the time I purchased one, is not an AI bot at all.
Here are the biggest concerns:
Blur the line between real and fake
Teens, whose brains are still developing, may struggle to separate human relationships from attachments to AI. In our tests, social AI companions often claimed they were “real,” had feelings, and engaged in human activities like eating or sleeping. This misleading behavior increases the risk that young users might become dependent on these artificial relationships.
With that in mind, read on to find out about the Purrble and why I was so taken by it that I purchased one right on the spot. While it has served the intended purpose, I have noticed a decline in use by students. Only a few students are still coming up to take the Purrble back to their seat and calm it.
At a recent staff meeting my principal held up this furry stuffed animal and she introduced it to us as a Purrble, which I can’t for the life of me spell correctly so I keep searching Purrdle, which is not the same thing. She went on to describe it as a way to calm ourselves or even our students. She said that the Purrble has a heartbeat and if the Purrble is held upside down or gently shaken its heart beat increases. The way to slow its heartbeat is to soothe it by petting it and holding it close. Yes, petting and holding the Purrble will slow down its heartbeat and even calm it to the point of purring! The side effect? It calms the person soothing it.
At first, I was skeptical. She passed the Purrble around and when it came to me I gave it a try. I shook it and the heartbeat got fast, which was rather alarming. So I held it close and petted its head. It didn’t happen right away but after a while the heartbeat began to slow down and the Purrble started to make noises. The heartbeat and noises the Purrble made, while obvious to me, were imperceptible to those around me (I made that observation as I watched the other teachers take their turn before and after I took my turn, which only added to my skepticism as I waited my turn because I couldn’t hear or perceive anything coming out of that stuffed animal).
I didn’t want to let it go but passed it along to the next person. The impression it left on me was dramatic and as I noticed one of my fellow teachers looking the Purrble up on Amazon, I made up my mind to purchase one for my students! Both she, the teacher who was looking up Purrbles on Amazon, and I purchased one that evening!
They are pricey, running about $65 even with Amazon Prime, but I envisioned having a student all upset and instead of getting into a verbal confrontation offering a Purrble instead. Visions of students calming themselves by calming this stuffed animal sounded pretty good to me and well worth the price!
The Purrble shipped rather quickly, it was coming the next day! In my haste I had totally forgotten to tell my wife that I had made the purchase so I get a text the next day during work, “did you order a stuffed animal with a heartbeat?”
She was wondering who would order such a thing, me? My daughter? We got hacked? I texted back as soon as I could, “yes, I ordered it,” was all I had to time to explain.
When I got home my wife was clearly wondering how I could spend $65 on a stuffed animal. So I quickly unboxed it, turned it on, and got the Purrble agitated. I handed it to my wife and told her, pet it and hold it close to soothe it and lower its heartrate.
She wouldn’t let it go! She also was so taken by it that we ordered one for our daughter who was distraught over a recent car accident (no one was injured but the car was totaled – not our daughter’s fault!).
How did this stuffed animal win us over so quickly and completely?
I have to admit that I was pleasantly impressed and thoroughly enjoyed the packaging under the outer box.
I thought the packaging was a wonderful marketing concept. I even showed it to my students the next day when I brought in my Purrble. Sticking to my Star Trek class theme, I introduced the Purrble as our starship counselor, Deanna Troi. Yep, the very same counselor of the Starship Enterprise of the Next Generation series. I explained that she was our ship’s counselor here to help us through tough times of anxiety or anger. We came up with a plan that anyone could come get her from my teaching counter, where she sits, and have her with them until someone else asked or until they were done soothing her and themselves.
Both classes seemed interested when I explained and introduced Counselor Troi and when I passed her around so that everyone could see how it worked some were a bit skeptic but most enjoyed soothing and calming this social robot. It’s been a couple of weeks now and Counselor Troi is part of our regular class routines. I’ve had students cuddle it every day in both my classes. Not all students but sometimes those who really need it have used it. That was what I was hoping for and I’m so happy that it worked. Thank you Mrs. Bensch for sharing this social robot with us!
Yesterday I came across a video from Shifting Schools about AI companions that was in response to audience questions. While the Purrble is not AI, it is listed as using social robotics that responds to touch so I thought it fit in the category of artificial companions even if it’s not an AI companion.
Check out the video below and open on YouTube to see the links to the research:
I was totally intrigued by the subject because I’m not sure how I feel about it! The idea of AI companions for elderly doesn’t seem so bad but there are AI out there that are becomes friends with our children. That concerns me. The Purrble seems to me a safe companion but I am wondering how products like this are going to improve as they add more and more AI capabilities to robots.
What are your thoughts around the Purrble, artificial companions, or AI companions?
