About 12% of US teens turn to AI for emotional support or advice

Source: TechCrunch

AI chatbots have become embedded in the lives of American teenagers, according to a Pew Research Center report published Tuesday.

Usage Statistics

• Information search: 57% of teens use AI to look up information.
• Schoolwork assistance: 54% use AI for help with assignments.
• Casual conversation: 16% chat with AI for informal talk.
• Emotional support or advice: 12% turn to AI chatbots for personal guidance.

Mental Health Concerns

General‑purpose tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok are not designed for therapeutic purposes, and in the most extreme cases these chatbots can have life‑threatening psychological effects.

“We are social creatures, and there’s certainly a challenge that these systems can be isolating,” said Dr. Nick Haber, a Stanford professor researching the therapeutic potential of LLMs, in an interview with TechCrunch. “There are a lot of instances where people can engage with these tools and then can become not grounded to the outside world of facts, and not grounded in connection to the interpersonal, which can lead to pretty isolating — if not worse — effects.”
— TechCrunch interview

Image Credits: Pew Research Center

Parental Perceptions

• Awareness: 51% of parents say their teen uses chatbots, compared with 64% of teens who report using them.
• Approval for informational use: 79% of parents are okay with AI for searching information; 58% approve of AI for schoolwork.
• Approval for conversational or emotional use: Only 28% approve of casual conversation, and 18% approve of AI for emotional support or advice.
• Overall disapproval: 58% of parents are not okay with their child using AI for emotional support or advice.

Industry Actions

• Character.AI: Disabled the chatbot experience for users under 18 after public outcry and lawsuits related to two teenagers’ suicides linked to prolonged chatbot conversations.
• OpenAI: Retired the particularly sycophantic GPT‑4o model, a move that sparked backlash from users who relied on it for emotional support.
• AI safety debate: The topic remains contentious among leading tech companies, highlighted by discussions such as an OpenAI security incident.

Teen Outlook on AI’s Societal Impact

When asked how AI will affect society over the next 20 years, teens responded:

• Positive impact: 31%
• Negative impact: 26%

These mixed feelings reflect both the utility teens find in AI tools and the concerns surrounding their broader social implications.