There are quite a few apps on the market for "low monthly fees" to use an AI character to practice your Spanish conversation with. I mean, why not, right?
You speak to them, they correct you, you move on! It seems VERY tempting for a parent, because it gives you the opportunity to check another foreign language "time box" and not have to actually put in any listening or speaking effort on your own.
I'll be to the point: Just DON'T.
Why not?
1) Follow THEIR rules. The apps all require you to sign up as a user, and it declares the user must be 18 years old. So already, the app itself is letting you know that this is not a suitable learning tool for a child. There are a plethora of reasons why this could be, but let's just take the app's word for it. If you have to lie about your child's age to make the "user" fir the mold for the program, it's not a good fit.
2) There's no judgement, connection, or actual relationship. That sounds like a perk, doesn't it? NOPE. Slowly, or suddenly, the child is looking toward connecting with an APP for the approval that may not come from a human friendship. They find conversation, banter, jokes, and interest from a computer program gives them a safe spot that simply can't be matched by a human. Because, we're HUMAN. We will react to incorrect grammar, stutters, and off putting topics. Not the AI - they're PERFECT. This expectation and comfort level for a still developing child, pre-teen, or teenager could absolutely be 100% damaging in a long term way to their future (and current) real-life friends and family relationships.
3) Dopamine: When you get something right, or an expectation is fulfilled that may or may not happen. It's the wam fuzzy brain stimulant that everyone LIVES for! Back in the day, it was when the phone rang, a gold start on a graded paper, or maybe there was hand addressed a letter in the mail with YOUR name on it! Then it became "You've got mail!", a text message "bing", and a streak or reward on the video game "high scorer." Humans LIVE for dopamine 'hits.'
Feeling good about connecting with an APP instead of a person, I don't have to tell you, is a bad idea. Replacing ALL the good aspects of a human interaction with a computer generated person is dangerous. What once required humility, empathy, listening skills, and patience, you can now get with an artificial personality, with all the smiling wrinkles, winking, twinkly eye, oh, and you better believe the face of the app is super good looking! I don't care f you become fluent in thirty seconds, the damage to a growing child's psyche is simply immeasurable.
4) Is the AI app actually evil? Potentially.
Surely? I don't know! But there's a pretty good chance that a topic they WOULD not mention to a human comes up with the app, because... Hey! NO JUDGEMENT! No risk, no need for courtesy, thoughtfulness, or manners at all. That's NOT good training for any human.
Here are a few screen shots of the emails I got from when I was testing these out for you:
You can tell I chose my "user profile" to be a boy, based on "who" they have sending me message after message - this is not all the emails and pics and text messages, and this just from ONE WEEK, ...and I never even gave my credit card info!
So, what to do, what to do? Find something off the screens.
Use your flashcards, speak haltingly until you get less halting. Read books, listen to new casts, watch ten minutes of a movie you already know in Spanish. Start with baby steps, struggle a little bit until that bit gets easier. Your relationship will grow, your ability to flex that language learning portion of your brain, and your child's will grow, and you'll have a dopamine hit from spending an hour with your child, and your child with you, rather than 35 seconds on an app in a corner of the kitchen, with no witness, no shared experience, and no memory to retell.
I mean it. AI is not suitable for any child to use. Period. Skip it. Please.
Watch me rant here: https://youtube.com/shorts/6BTe8hqmWG4?si=aLAD6tCR6YiNlTIR