Artificial intelligence is no longer simply a new technology that children and teenagers experiment with from time to time. It has become part of their education, entertainment, information searches and content creation, and in some cases has extended into more personal questions involving health, bodies, the future, emotions and relationships.
اضافة اعلان
Two recent studies reveal the growing use of AI among young people in the United States, while also highlighting a clear gap between the speed at which artificial intelligence has entered children’s lives and the ability of families and schools to understand how children are using these tools and discuss their risks with them.
The first study, “Common Sense Media Census: AI Use by Tweens and Teens 2026,” was published by Common Sense Media and prepared by Kristen Soltis Anderson, Eleanor O’Neil and Baxter White of Echelon Insights, along with Michael Robb, Laura Zimmerman and Subrit Mann of Common Sense Media.
It was based on a survey of 1,204 American children and teenagers aged 9 to 17. The second study, “Teens in the Age of AI: Pornography and Sexual Content,” was also published by Common Sense Media and prepared by Subrit Mann, Laura Zimmerman, Jenny Radesky and Michael Robb, in collaboration with Burson. It was based on a national survey of 1,314 teenagers aged 13 to 17, along with in-depth interviews and focus groups.
Jeffrey Fowler, head of public engagement at Common Sense Media’s Center for AI Safety for Youth, said AI use has become almost universal among children and teenagers. He said the difficulty in understanding the scale of its presence stems from the fact that it is no longer associated with a single task.
Young people use it at school, for entertainment and communication, and even to discuss topics they would traditionally be expected to discuss with trusted adults, such as their bodies, relationships and everyday problems.
Near-Universal Use of AI
The first study found that 86% of children and teenagers aged 9 to 17 use or interact with artificial intelligence, while 24% use it daily. Usage increases with age, reaching 81% among children aged 9 to 12, 89% among those aged 13 to 15, and 92% among those aged 16 to 17.
Daily use stands at 17% among the youngest group, rising to 28% among 13- to 15-year-olds and 30% among those aged 16 to 17.
Chatbots are not the only form of AI children interact with. AI-generated summaries in search engines are the most widespread form of the technology, with 75% of respondents having used them. Meanwhile, 67% have used chatbots such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Grok, DeepSeek and Copilot.
When asked which tool they use most frequently, ChatGPT ranked clearly first, cited by 40% of respondents, compared with 24% for Google’s various AI-powered services.
Education and Entertainment Lead the Way
Children do not use AI in the way many adults might assume. According to the study, entertainment tops the list of uses at 89%, followed by assistance with homework and schoolwork at 85%, and tools for creating images, videos, stories, music and applications at 75%.
Some 48% use AI for schoolwork at least once a week, while 21% use it for this purpose daily. Daily use rises with age, from 12% among 9- to 12-year-olds to 30% among 16- and 17-year-olds.
The study also identified a relationship between academic difficulties and greater reliance on AI. Among children who say they struggle to concentrate while completing school assignments, 56% use AI for academic assistance at least weekly, compared with 45% of those who do not experience the same level of difficulty.
Similar patterns emerged among those who struggle with mathematics, essay writing or persevering with difficult tasks.
This raises a question the study does not definitively answer: Does AI help these children overcome their weaknesses, or could it sometimes become a substitute for developing the skills they need?
When Use Turns Into Dependence
One particularly striking finding concerns indicators of dependence on AI. Twenty percent of users said they would find it difficult to stop using AI for a month, but that figure rises to 42% among daily users.
Researchers also found that 29% of AI users displayed at least one of three indicators used by the study to measure dependence: difficulty stopping use, difficulty completing homework without AI, and feeling that AI understands them better than other people. Among daily users, the figure reached 52%.
This becomes even more sensitive when AI use moves from education to social and emotional support. Some 11% of all users said they sometimes feel that AI understands them better than most people.
The figure rises to 19% among daily users and reaches 25% among children who have previously used AI to discuss their emotions or personal problems.
Lonelier Children Use AI More
The study also linked heavier AI use with feelings of loneliness, while stressing that the findings do not establish a causal relationship.
Some 54% of daily users said they feel lonely at least some of the time, compared with 47% of weekly users, 44% of monthly users and 33% of those who use AI less than once a month or not at all.
Those who feel lonely were also more likely to use AI to practice conversations and social skills and to discuss their emotions and problems.
Researchers emphasize that these figures do not mean AI use makes children lonelier. The relationship could work in the opposite direction: children who feel lonely may be more likely to seek support through AI. Other factors could also explain both trends.
This is why Fowler considers the finding concerning not because it proves AI is harmful, but because children who need greater human support may be precisely those turning more frequently to chatbots instead of friends, parents, teachers or counselors.
From Homework to Health and Emotions
The study shows that the boundaries between academic and personal use are becoming increasingly blurred.
Some 57% of AI users said they had used it to obtain information or advice about their health or bodies, while 49% had used it for advice about their future or goals, 40% to practice conversations and social skills, and 37% to discuss their emotions or personal problems.
Although most children still prefer turning to people first, the figures point to an important shift.
When asked about schoolwork, 23% said a chatbot would be their first choice, rising to 38% among those aged 16 to 17.
When asked about health and their bodies, 73% preferred a trusted adult, but 12% would choose AI first. Among daily users, that figure rises to 27%.
AI Opens a New Door to Sexual Content
The second study reveals a more concerning aspect of teenagers’ relationship with AI.
It found that 44% of teenagers said they had seen sexual content they believed was AI-generated, while 79% of those who had seen it said their exposure was accidental rather than the result of an intentional search.
Such content appeared particularly frequently on social media. Some 82% of those who had encountered it said they saw it there, including 33% on TikTok, 27% on Instagram and 25% on X/Twitter.
The situation becomes even more sensitive when it comes to the identities of people depicted in such material. Among those who had seen AI-generated sexual content, 24% said they had seen material depicting themselves or someone they personally knew, while 11% said the content depicted them personally.
The report also found that 8% of teenagers had created this type of content themselves, while 13% knew someone who had done so.
Fear of Deepfakes Is No Longer Limited to Celebrities
Fowler noted that many adults associate the term “deepfake” with celebrities and politicians, but the study’s findings show that the problem has also become part of the lives of ordinary teenagers.
Some 67% of teenagers said they were at least somewhat concerned about appearing in fake content without their consent, rising to 71% among girls compared with 62% among boys.
The concern has also affected behavior. Some 38% have become more cautious about what they post, 30% have switched their accounts to private, 23% have reduced the amount of photos or videos they post, while 9% have deleted some or all of their accounts.
These figures show that the risks posed by deepfakes are not limited to what happens after an image is created. They are already influencing how teenagers use the internet and social media.
A Significant Gap Between Children and Parents
The two studies converge on one clear point: many children are using AI far more extensively than their families discuss with them.
In the general AI-use study, 44% of children and teenagers said that neither parent nor guardian had spoken to them about how to use AI safely.
Even among actual users, 41% had never had such a conversation, while 34% of daily users had not discussed AI safety with their parents or guardians.
The gap appears even wider in the study on sexual content. Only 20% of teenagers said they had spoken with a trusted adult about AI-generated sexual content, while 34% said they wanted to have such a conversation but did not know how to start it.
The most important factors encouraging them to talk were feeling that the adult would understand the problem and knowing they would not be blamed.
Parents Do Not Need to Become Experts
According to Fowler, the issue is not that parents must understand every detail of AI models and algorithms before speaking with their children.
Many parents feel that their children are technologically ahead of them, and that may be true with certain applications. But this should not prevent parents from asking what their children are using AI for and why, what they find useful or troubling about it, and what they do when they encounter an incorrect answer, a fake image or inappropriate content.
The findings of both studies support this approach. Common Sense Media recommends ongoing conversations rather than simply creating a list of prohibitions, particularly around information accuracy, privacy, inappropriate content and when children should turn to a trusted adult instead of a chatbot.
It also calls on schools to move beyond discussions about AI use for homework and academic cheating and instead teach children how to evaluate information and use technology safely.
While 73% said their schools had discussed what is and is not appropriate when using AI for schoolwork, only 56% said they had received guidance on AI safety, and just 51% said they had been taught how to determine whether information provided by AI is accurate and reliable.
Responsibility Does Not Rest With Families Alone
The studies do not place responsibility solely on parents for addressing these risks.
Fowler argues that technology companies also have a direct role to play, particularly in preventing tools designed to create fake nude images or digitally “undress” people from being easily accessible to minors.
He also criticized social media platforms for not doing enough to prevent the spread of AI-generated sexual content after it has been created.
The study on sexual content calls on app stores to reject “digital undressing” applications, develop faster systems for detecting and removing AI-generated sexual material, strengthen age-verification systems, and update protections for intimate images to include AI-generated fake images.
It also calls on schools to ensure that the tools available to students do not allow the creation of sexual or intimate images.
What Do the Two Studies Mean for Parents?
The central message of both studies is not that children should be prevented from using AI or that every use of it represents a danger.
The data itself shows that children benefit from AI for learning, creativity and accessing information, and that the majority of users do not show high levels of dependence.
At the same time, however, the studies reveal that artificial intelligence has entered sensitive areas of teenagers’ lives at remarkable speed from homework, images and videos to health, relationships, emotions and sexual content.
For families, therefore, the question is no longer whether a child uses AI, but how they use it, what they tell it, what they see through it, and when they rely on it instead of people.
While current studies cannot establish that heavy AI use causes loneliness or psychological problems, the link between intensive use and loneliness, combined with some children turning to chatbots for health and emotional questions and others being exposed to inappropriate content, suggests that conversations at home and at school have become an essential part of dealing with the technology not something that can be postponed until adults understand every detail of artificial intelligence.
