Lightsyde

A new UK study has raised concerns about how teenage boys are using AI companion apps. Researchers surveyed more than 1,000 boys aged 12–16 from 37 schools and found that around 1 in 5 either had an AI girlfriend or knew someone their age who did. The study also found that: - 85% had used an AI chatbot. - 43% used AI to ask questions they were too embarrassed to ask someone else. - 26% said they preferred the attention from AI companions over real-life relationships. - 36% said they sometimes preferred talking to AI instead of friends or family. Experts say AI companions could give young people unrealistic ideas about relationships because the bots are designed to always be supportive, agree with the user, and be available whenever needed.

Palworld reaches a new peak on Steam of almost 1 million players (again) as Nintendo gets one of their creature-catching patents related to the game rejected. Congrats to Palworld, they actually made players come back again.

Nintendo has reportedly suffered a setback after Japan’s Patent Office rejected one of its Pokémon-related patent applications. The patent covered touchscreen gameplay features like moving your character, throwing an item to catch creatures, sending them into battle, and choosing commands during fights. According to the patent office, those ideas weren’t new enough. The examiner pointed to several earlier examples, including a Pokémon fan game shown on YouTube in 2013, saying similar mechanics were already public before Nintendo filed the patent.