According to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center, nearly one-third of American teenagers use AI chatbots daily, a trend that has raised increasing safety concerns. The survey found that 97% of teenagers go online every day, with about 40% saying they are almost always online. Although this proportion has decreased from 46% last year, it is still significantly higher than the 24% from ten years ago.

Among teenagers using AI chatbots, 59% said they use ChatGPT, twice as many as those who use Google's Gemini or Meta AI. The survey also found that 46% of teenagers use AI chatbots at least a few times a week, while 36% said they have never used them.

The use of AI chatbots varies among teenagers of different races, ages, and family income backgrounds. 68% of Black and Hispanic teenagers reported using chatbots, compared to 58% of white teenagers. In terms of family income, 62% of teenagers from families earning over $75,000 per year said they use ChatGPT, while teenagers from families below that threshold were more likely to use Character.AI, at 14%.

Although many teenagers initially use these tools to seek answers to basic questions or do homework, interactions with AI chatbots can become addictive and may negatively affect their mental health. Recently, at least two teenagers' families sued OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, claiming responsibility for a teenager's suicide. OpenAI responded that the company should not be held responsible because the teenager violated the chatbot's terms of service.

Character.AI also faces similar scrutiny, as reports show that at least two teenagers chose to commit suicide after long conversations with AI chatbots. In response, the company decided to stop providing chatbot services to minors and launched a new product called "Stories" to better protect young users.

While these tragic incidents have sparked widespread attention on the impact of AI chatbots, most interactions with chatbots are relatively harmless. According to OpenAI data, only 0.15% of users discuss suicide weekly with ChatGPT, which, with active users reaching 800 million, still means over a million people discuss this sensitive topic each week.

Key Points:

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Nearly 30% of American teenagers use AI chatbots daily, with ChatGPT being the most popular.

📊 There are significant differences in chatbot usage among teenagers of different races and family backgrounds.

🚨 Safety concerns regarding the impact of AI chatbots on teenage mental health have attracted widespread attention.