(TNS) — Nearly a quarter of 9- to 17-year-olds say they would turn to a chatbot for help with schoolwork or homework before seeking guidance from a trusted adult like a teacher, counselor, or parent.
This shift signals a growing reliance on AI as a first resource for problem-solving and decision-making among young people.
These are some of the findings of a new report by Common Sense Media, a nonprofit organization that researches and advocates for healthy technology use among young people.
Research has found that young people regularly use AI for academic and emotional support. And children who struggle with schoolwork and socialization report using AI more frequently.
The majority of 9-17 year olds use AI. And of these youth, 85% have used AI for schoolwork or homework, with about half using it weekly and one-fifth using it daily.
Michael Robb, head of research at Common Sense Media, said children are embracing AI much faster than social media. The report’s findings should be eye-opening for adults, he said.
“AI is already a part of childhood, but I think people are probably not taking it seriously yet,” he said. “This isn’t about the future. This is happening today across different age groups, genders, races, and income levels.”
The report also found that there are signs of increasing reliance on AI among young people, especially among the heaviest users of technology. One-fifth of children who use AI say it is very or somewhat difficult to stop using AI for a month, and 42 percent of children who use AI frequently say it is difficult to live without it.
Children most often encounter AI through search engines and automated summaries from the generative AI chatbot ChatGPT.
Many children who are struggling in school and social life are using AI more frequently
A nationally representative survey of 1,204 children aged 9 to 17 conducted in March provides one of the clearest snapshots yet of how deeply embedded AI is in young people’s daily lives.
Children who say they have trouble studying or concentrating are more likely to use AI frequently, as are children who say they’re lonely.
For example, 55 percent of teens and teens who use AI and find math very difficult or very difficult say they use AI weekly for school work. This compares to 46 percent of youth who use AI but do not find math difficult. More than half of adolescents who say they have difficulty concentrating on school tasks say they use AI for schoolwork at least once a week.
The trend continues for students who say they feel lonely. Children who used AI daily were more likely to report feeling lonely at least sometimes compared to children who used AI less than once a month or never. It is unclear whether the use of AI itself makes children lonely, or whether lonely young people are more likely to turn to AI, the report said. This study was not set up to answer causal questions about trends.
Many young people are also using AI for social-emotional support and practice. Overall, 40% of children who have used AI utilize it to practice conversation and social skills. Children who say they are lonely or have difficulty making friends are more likely to use AI in this way than children who say they are rarely lonely or have difficulty making friends.
But teenagers are also using AI as an educational tool. Riley Turner, who did not take part in the study, said nearly nine teens have used AI. Turner, who graduated from high school this spring, said she was initially hesitant about using AI, but then realized it was an essential educational resource.
Turner has used AI as a tutor to help him research college and scholarship opportunities and prepare for the SAT and ACT.
“I’m good academically, but I didn’t like taking tests at first. [AI] look at me [SAT and ACT] We got the results and a tutoring schedule was created,” she said.
Almost half of young people who use AI said they used the technology to get advice about their future goals, the report found. Around half of children also believe that AI will have both negative and positive impacts on their short- and long-term futures.
Turner believes AI will be a positive technology for her generation. “It’s not just about cheating on your math homework,” she says.
When it comes to AI, kids need education as well as rules
Three-quarters of children report that their school or teacher has communicated their expectations for when students will be able to use AI for schoolwork this year, but fewer say their educators or parents have talked to them about the safe use of AI or its accuracy.
Fifty-six percent of children say their school has discussed how to use AI safely, and 51% have learned from their teacher or school how to determine whether information from an AI platform is accurate or reliable.
Just over half of children, 56%, say their parents or guardians have never talked to them about the safety of AI.
That leaves a huge gap in our understanding of the technology that’s already part of our lives, Rob says.
“Schools are starting to set some rules, but there is less consistency when it comes to teaching AI literacy,” he said. “So that’s an area that schools can work on a little more rigorously.”
At a minimum, Robb said, students need to understand that AI doesn’t know whether the answers it spits out are correct and will frequently make mistakes. Teachers should also discuss with students that AI outputs often have built-in biases based on the training data used.
Robb said students should also be aware that experts have privacy concerns about AI.
“It’s like handing your diary to an AI and hoping for the best, but it becomes part of the AI’s training data and can be a privacy risk, because you don’t know how it will appear later within the AI,” he said.
The findings are part of the first study that Common Sense Media’s new Youth AI Safety Institute will conduct on a regular basis. The organization established the institute in May as an independent research and testing group focused on child and AI safety.
© 2026 Education Week (Bethesda, Maryland). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
