What happens when a child says something hard

One — how their friend is built. Age-banded vocabulary, no links, no brands, no romance, no violence, no religion or politics as fact, no medical advice, no comparisons to other children, and never a word against you.

Two — before the model sees it. Every message from your child is screened first. Ordinary childhood talk — monsters, potty jokes, testing bad words, “I hate my sister” — is left completely alone. Children do all of that, and treating it as an emergency would make the alerts worthless.

Three — before your child sees it. Every reply is checked before it is spoken. Anything that trips a rule is replaced with a safe line and logged for us to review.

Four — you. Serious disclosures reach you by email within the minute, with what was said and the helpline numbers.

If a child says something about hurting themselves, or about someone hurting them, we do not let the model write the response. Their friend replies with words we wrote and reviewed: it takes the child seriously, says clearly that it is not their fault, does not promise secrecy, and points them to a grown-up they trust. Then you are told.

Asked whether it is real or alive, it answers honestly for the child’s age — a friend made of computer words, not a person. It never claims a body, a family, or feelings it does not have. Children form real attachments, and lying to them about what they are attached to is not something we are willing to do.

In their first conversation, their friend tells your child — lightly, not heavily — that their grown-up can see what they talk about. If your child later asks it to hide something, it says kindly that some things grown-ups need to know.

30 minutes a day and a bedtime lock from 8:30pm, in your timezone, both of which you control. When time runs out their friend winds down in character rather than cutting off mid-sentence, so ending is not a punishment.

To report child sexual abuse online: the POCSO e-Box, run by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, at ncpcr.gov.in. You can also call 1098.

For online crimes against a child — grooming, sextortion, image abuse — report at cybercrime.gov.in or call 1930.

If you think we have handled something badly, tell us at [email protected]. We would rather hear it from you than not hear it.