AI chatbots have not come near changing teenagers’ social media habits, however they’re enjoying a big position of their on-line habits. Almost one-third of US teenagers report utilizing AI chatbots every day or extra, in line with a brand new report from Pew Analysis.
The report is the primary from Pew to particularly look at how typically teenagers are utilizing AI total, and was revealed alongside its newest analysis on teenagers’ social media use. It is based mostly on a web based survey of 1,458 US teenagers who have been polled between September 25 to October 9, 2025. In accordance with Pew, the survey was “weighted to be consultant of U.S. teenagers ages 13 to 17 who reside with their dad and mom by age, gender, race and ethnicity, family earnings, and different classes.”
In accordance with Pew, 48 p.c of teenagers use AI chatbots “a number of occasions per week” or extra typically, with 12 p.c reporting their use at “a number of occasions a day” and 4 p.c saying they use the instruments “nearly continuously.” That is far fewer than the 21 p.c of teenagers who report nearly fixed use of TikTok and the 17 p.c who say the identical about YouTube. However these numbers are nonetheless vital contemplating how a lot newer these providers are in contrast with mainstream social media apps.
The report additionally gives some perception into which AI corporations’ chatbots are most used amongst teenagers. OpenAI’s ChatGPT got here out forward by far, with 59 p.c of teenagers saying that they had used the service, adopted by Google’s Gemini at 23 p.c and Meta AI at 20 p.c. Simply 14 p.c of teenagers mentioned that they had ever used Microsoft Copilot, and 9 p.c and three p.c reported utilizing Character AI and Anthropic’s Claude, respectively.
The survey is Pew’s first to check Ai chatbot use amongst teenagers broadly. (Pew Analysis)
Pew’s analysis comes as there’s been rising scrutiny over AI corporations’ dealing with of youthful customers. Each OpenAI and Character AI are presently going through wrongful deaths lawsuits from the dad and mom of teenagers who died by suicide. In each circumstances, the dad and mom allege that their kid’s interactions with a chatbot performed a job of their demise. (Character AI briefly banned teenagers from its service earlier than introducing a extra restricted format for youthful customers.) Different corporations, together with Alphabet and Meta, are being probed by the FTC over their security insurance policies for youthful customers.
Curiously, the report additionally signifies there was little change in US teenagers’ social media use. Pew, which has often polled teenagers about how they use social media, notes that teenagers’ every day use of those platforms “stays comparatively secure” in contrast with current years. YouTube remains to be essentially the most widely-used platform, reaching 92 p.c of teenagers, adopted by TikTok at 69 p.c, Instagram at 63 p.c and Snapchat at 55 p.c. Of the key apps the report surveyed, WhatsApp is the one service to see vital change lately, with 24 p.c of teenagers now reporting they use the messaging app, in contrast with 17 p.c in 2022.