72% of US teenagers have used AI companions, examine finds
Hopefully not Grok’s companions …
A brand new examine by a U.S. nonprofit targeted on the lives of youngsters and households, Frequent Sense Media, has discovered {that a} overwhelming majority of U.S. teenagers (72%) have tried an AI companion at the very least as soon as. By “companion,” the examine is concentrated on AI chatbots which might be designed for customers to have extra private conversations with, not AI assistants that work as homework helpers, picture turbines, or voice assistants that simply reply questions.
As an example, the examine’s definition of AI companions may embrace these digital AI personas offered by corporations like Character.AI or Replika, but it surely may additionally embody the usage of general-purpose chatbots like ChatGPT or Claude, which can be utilized for extra private conversations, if desired.
The examine discovered that chatting with an AI appears to be interesting to U.S. teenagers (ages 13 to 17), as not solely had almost three-quarters tried an AI companion, but in addition 52% stated they’re common customers. Amongst those that engaged with these companions usually, 13% chat with them day by day and 21% chat a number of occasions every week.
Boys (31%) had been additionally barely extra probably than women (25%) to say they’d by no means used an AI companion, among the many one in 4 teenagers who stated they’ve by no means tried it.
The findings are based mostly on a examine that ran throughout April and Might 2025 and used a consultant pattern of 1,060 teenagers and was performed by researchers from NORC on the College of Chicago. There have already been considerations about AI’s influence on teenagers’ well-being, as one agency, Character.AI, is being sued over a teen’s suicide in Florida and for selling violence in Texas. There are additionally quite a few stories that describe the potential risks of utilizing AI for remedy.
The findings from Frequent Sense Media’s new examine provide an early understanding of how younger persons are utilizing AI to simulate human interactions, which may embrace digital friendship, emotional assist, remedy, and role-playing video games, amongst different issues.
The evaluation additionally examined different behaviors round teen utilization of AI companions, together with what types of duties teenagers turned to them for, why, and what the after-effects had been.
As an example, almost half (46%) stated they noticed AI companions as instruments or packages, and 33% stated they use them for social interplay and relationships. Teenagers stated they use the AI companions for varied functions: leisure (30%), curiosity about AI expertise (28%), recommendation (18%), and since they’re at all times out there (17%).
Half of teenagers (50%) stated they don’t belief the data offered by AI companions. Nonetheless, older teenagers are much less prone to belief the AI’s recommendation in contrast with youthful teenagers, ages 13 to 14, at 20% and 27%, respectively.
One-third of the kids stated they discover the conversations extra satisfying than these with real-life buddies, although the bulk (67%) felt the alternative means.
Plus, 39% had been utilizing the AI conversations as follow for real-life interactions, as 39% stated they utilized abilities they first tried with an AI to real-world conditions. Among the many abilities practiced, social abilities had been the highest use case, with 39% of teenagers having explored this space, adopted by dialog starters (18%), giving recommendation (14%), and expressing feelings (13%).
When it comes to whether or not real-life relationships can be changed by tech, there was one constructive discovering: 80% of teenagers who used AI companions stated they spend extra time with actual buddies than with their AI chatbots. Solely 6% stated the reverse was true.