Hopefully not Grok’s companions …
A brand new research by a U.S. nonprofit targeted on the lives of children 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 research is targeted on AI chatbots which are designed for customers to have extra private conversations with, not AI assistants that work as homework helpers, picture mills, or voice assistants that simply reply questions.
For example, the research’s definition of AI companions might embody these digital AI personas supplied by firms like Character.AI or Replika, nevertheless it might additionally embody using general-purpose chatbots like ChatGPT or Claude, which can be utilized for extra private conversations, if desired.
The research 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 additionally 52% mentioned they’re common customers. Amongst those that engaged with these companions commonly, 13% chat with them day by day and 21% chat a number of occasions every week.
Boys (31%) had been additionally barely extra possible than ladies (25%) to say they’d by no means used an AI companion, among the many one in 4 teenagers who mentioned they’ve by no means tried it.
The findings are based mostly on a research that ran throughout April and Could 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 issues 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 various studies that describe the potential risks of utilizing AI for remedy.
The findings from Frequent Sense Media’s new research provide an early understanding of how younger individuals are utilizing AI to simulate human interactions, which might embody digital friendship, emotional help, remedy, and role-playing video games, amongst different issues.
The evaluation additionally examined different behaviors round teen utilization of AI companions, together with what kinds of duties teenagers turned to them for, why, and what the after-effects had been.
For example, almost half (46%) mentioned they noticed AI companions as instruments or applications, and 33% mentioned they use them for social interplay and relationships. Teenagers mentioned they use the AI companions for numerous functions: leisure (30%), curiosity about AI expertise (28%), recommendation (18%), and since they’re at all times obtainable (17%).
Half of teenagers (50%) mentioned they don’t belief the knowledge supplied by AI companions. Nevertheless, 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 mentioned they discover the conversations extra satisfying than these with real-life pals, although the bulk (67%) felt the alternative method.
Plus, 39% had been utilizing the AI conversations as observe for real-life interactions, as 39% mentioned 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 might be changed by tech, there was one constructive discovering: 80% of teenagers who used AI companions mentioned they spend extra time with actual pals than with their AI chatbots. Solely 6% mentioned the reverse was true.
