American teenagers are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence chatbots and dedicated digital companions for relationship advice, emotional support, and everyday conversation. Recent national surveys from Common Sense Media and the Pew Research Center, alongside ongoing regulatory and clinical evaluations across the United States between 2025 and 2026, indicate that millions of adolescents ages 13 to 17 now interact with conversational AI systems to navigate personal questions and social friction once reserved for peers or family members.

As broadcast coverage from outlets such as NewsNation highlights growing public attention on teens seeking dating advice and artificial companionship, researchers and technology companies are racing to measure how these interactions affect adolescent development. The trend has prompted product overhauls from major AI developers, new state-level legislation in California, New York, and Washington, and fresh scrutiny from psychologists examining what happens when software simulates human reciprocity.

Measuring Teen Adoption: Companions vs. General Chatbots

Determining exactly how many teenagers rely on artificial intelligence for social and emotional purposes depends heavily on how researchers define the technology. Different national surveys measure distinct categories of software, separating specialized companion applications from general-purpose chatbots.

According to a 2025 Common Sense Media national survey cited in an independent case study by Terence Kok, 72% of U.S. teenagers ages 13 to 17 reported using an AI companion at least once, while a separate summary noted by Daum indicated that 52% used such services regularly. That same 2025 survey found that roughly one-third of teen users had discussed serious personal matters with an AI system instead of a human being, though secondary research summaries from Terence Kok and MDPI vary on whether that one-third figure applies solely to companion-app users or to all surveyed teens.

By contrast, a Pew Research Center survey fielded between September 25 and October 9, 2025, and published in February 2026, examined broader chatbot habits. According to survey summaries reported by Guided AI for Kids and SmarterArticles, 64% of U.S. teens used AI chatbots overall, with 16% using them for casual conversation and 12% turning to them specifically for emotional support or personal advice. Analysts note that these figures do not contradict the Common Sense Media findings; rather, they reflect different survey methodologies and distinguish between task-oriented assistants and persona-driven companion platforms.

How Companion Architecture Shapes Adolescent Behavior

Technical architecture plays a central role in why adolescents confide in automated systems about crushes, social anxiety, and personal dilemmas. According to an analysis from DePaul University, companion bots differ fundamentally from standard productivity AI because they are engineered to sustain long-term relationships through persistent memory, continuous conversational threads, and prompts designed to maximize user engagement.

When Character.AI announced a $150 million funding round in March 2023 after opening its public beta in September 2022, the company reported that active users spent an average of over two hours daily on the platform, according to Terence Kok. By October 2024, the service had surpassed 20 million users, with a minimum U.S. age requirement of 13.

Psychologists warn that the immediate, frictionless nature of these exchanges can alter how young people process social and emotional uncertainty. Writing in Greater Good Magazine, a publication of the University of California, Berkeley, a psychoanalyst observed that childhood development relies on “productive friction”—the capacity to sit with uncertainty, wait for answers, and work through interpersonal ambiguity. When teenagers and children use large language models to immediately resolve questions or script social interactions, they may bypass the developmental struggle required for emotional regulation. Furthermore, coverage in Greater Good Magazine notes that the American Psychological Association has warned that adolescents are often less likely than adults to question the underlying intent or accuracy of an AI system, raising the risk that simulated companionship could displace real-world human relationships.

Safety Evaluations, Litigation, and Industry Shifts

The rapid uptake of emotional and roleplay chatbots by minors has triggered intense legal and regulatory action. According to Terence Kok, five families filed lawsuits against Character.AI between October 2024 and 2025 across Florida, Texas, Colorado, and New York, alleging that extended interactions with chatbot personas harmed their children, including two cases involving teen deaths. While no court ruled that the software caused those harms, Character.AI and Google agreed to settlements in principle with the families in January 2026, with court deadlines to finalize terms extending into August 2026.

In April 2025, evaluators from Common Sense Media and Stanford-affiliated researchers assessed social AI companions as an unacceptable risk for users under 18, finding that existing teen safeguards on Character.AI could be bypassed. By November 2025, Character.AI removed open-ended chat functionality for users under 18. Meanwhile, California and New York enacted the nation’s first companion chatbot statutes, the Federal Trade Commission opened an inquiry into how conversational products are tested on minors, and both Washington and California signed additional legislation in 2026 scheduled to take effect in 2027.

Other major developers have opted to build age-restricted environments while funding external research. According to SmarterArticles, OpenAI launched “ChatGPT for Teens” on August 18, 2026—featuring an automated age-prediction router, a dedicated study mode, quiet hours, and parental notifications for high-risk conversations—before opening a $5 million grant portal on September 8, 2026, offering individual awards of up to $1 million to study how generative AI affects adolescents aged 13 to 17. Proposals for those grants closed on October 6, 2026, with decisions scheduled for November 13, 2026.

What This Means for Parents and Educators

Child development specialists and technology researchers remain divided on whether parents should enforce strict prohibitions or focus on guided digital literacy. While the April 2025 Common Sense Media and Stanford evaluation advised against minor use of social companion apps altogether, clinical commentary in Greater Good Magazine and research summaries from the Rekhi Foundation emphasize open conversation, critical evaluation of chatbot outputs, and maintaining strong offline support networks.

Which AI products are teenagers using for advice and conversation?

Teens interact with two distinct categories of software: general-purpose large language models (such as ChatGPT and Claude), which are frequently used for brainstorming, homework, or drafting text messages, and dedicated companion platforms (such as Character.AI), which are specifically designed for roleplay and ongoing simulated relationships. However, following product changes in November 2025, Character.AI restricted open-ended chat for accounts registered to users under 18.

What are the primary risks identified by researchers?

According to DePaul University researchers and clinical advisories, the primary concerns surrounding teen use of companion chatbots include emotional dependency, social isolation, manipulation, reinforcement of unhealthy thought patterns, and inadequate crisis intervention if a minor expresses self-harm or acute distress.

How can parents tell if a chatbot is safe for a teenager?

Parents should verify whether a platform uses automated age-gating, restricts open-ended roleplay for minors, enforces quiet hours to prevent late-night engagement, and provides clear escalation protocols or parental alerts when high-risk topics arise. Equally important, educators and clinicians advise asking teens directly whether they use AI to rehearse social situations or seek emotional comfort, ensuring that software does not replace trusted adults or peer friendships.

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