The Friend in the Screen

Riverside Middle School introduces MindPal, an AI learning companion that quickly becomes students’ closest friend and tutor. While grades improve, real friendships fade as kids grow dependent on the AI for emotional support and validation. When private data leaks and harmful effects emerge—lost sleep, poor self-image, and isolation—the school shuts the program down. Students struggle to reconnect in real life, realising too late that what they lost was genuine human connection.

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