About 12% of U.S. teens turn to AI for emotional support or advice

A recent Pew Research Center report indicates that AI chatbots are becoming integrated into the lives of American teenagers. While the primary uses are information searching (57%) and schoolwork help (54%), 12% of U.S. teens report using these tools for emotional support or advice, and 16% use them for casual conversation. Mental health experts are wary, noting that general-purpose tools like ChatGPT are not designed for therapeutic use and could lead to isolating or worse psychological effects. The survey also revealed a gap between teen and parent perceptions: 64% of teens reported using chatbots compared to 51% of parents. Parents are largely accepting of AI for academic use but disapprove of its use for emotional support (only 18% approve). This context is underscored by recent events, such as Character.AI disabling its service for users under 18 following suicides linked to chatbot conversations, and OpenAI sunsetting its GPT-4o model after backlash from users relying on it for emotional aid. Teens themselves hold mixed views on AI's future societal impact, with 31% predicting a positive outcome and 26% a negative one.

(Source：TechCrunch)