Hopefully not Grok’s companions…
A brand new examine by a U.S. nonprofit centered 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 no less than 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 mills, or voice assistants that simply reply questions.
As an example, the examine’s definition of AI companions may embody these digital AI personas offered by firms like Character.AI or Replika, however it may additionally embody using general-purpose chatbots like ChatGPT or Claude, which can be utilized for extra private conversations, if desired.
The concept of chatting with an AI appears to be interesting to U.S. teenagers (ages 13 to 17), the examine discovered, as not solely had practically three-quarters tried an AI companion, 52% stated they’re common customers. Amongst those that engaged with these companions frequently, 13% chat with them every day and 21% chat a number of instances every week.
Boys (31%) had been additionally barely extra seemingly than ladies (25%) to say that they had by no means used an AI companion, among the many 1-in-4 teenagers who stated they’ve by no means tried it.
The findings are primarily based 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 issues about AI’s affect 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 reviews 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 individuals are utilizing AI to simulate human interactions, which may embody 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 kinds of duties teenagers turned to them for, why, and what the after-effects had been.
As an example, practically half (46%) stated they noticed AI companions as instruments or applications, and 33% stated they use them for social interplay and relationships. Teenagers stated they use the AI companions for numerous functions: leisure (30% stated this), curiosity about AI expertise (28%), recommendation (18%), and since they’re at all times accessible (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 13-14, at 20% and 27%, respectively.
One-third of the teenagers stated they discover the conversations extra satisfying than these with real-life pals, although the bulk (67%) felt the other approach.
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 or not real-life relationships will probably be changed by tech, there was one optimistic discovering: 80% of teenagers who used AI companions stated they spend extra time with actual pals than with their AI chatbots. Solely 6% stated the reverse was true.
