AI chatbots are no longer a side story in teen technology use. A Pew Research Center study released on Tuesday shows that about three in 10 U.S. teens use AI chatbots every day, adding a new layer to an already intense debate over young people, internet safety, and mental health.
AI chatbots join daily teen internet life
Pew found that 97% of teens use the internet daily. About 40% of respondents said they are “almost constantly online,” down from 46% in last year’s survey but still far above the 24% figure from a decade ago.
That level of connectivity matters because AI chatbots are now part of the same digital environment where teens already spend large amounts of time. The study shows that 46% of U.S. teens use AI chatbots at least several times a week, while 36% say they do not use AI chatbots at all.
The daily-use figure is especially important. About three in 10 U.S. teens are using AI chatbots every day, and 4% say they use them almost constantly. That does not mean every teen is using these tools in the same way, but it does show that chatbots have become a regular habit for a meaningful share of young users.
ChatGPT leads, but use varies by platform
Among teens, ChatGPT is the clear leader. Pew found that 59% of teens say they use ChatGPT, making it more than twice as popular as Google’s Gemini at 23% and Meta AI at 20%.
The study also points to differences in chatbot use by race, age, and household income. About 68% of Black and Hispanic teens surveyed said they use chatbots, compared to 58% of white respondents. Black teens were about twice as likely to use Gemini and Meta AI as white teens.
Pew Research Associate Michelle Faverio told TechCrunch that “The racial and ethnic differences in teen chatbot use were striking […] but it’s tough to speculate about the reasons behind those differences.” She also noted that the pattern is consistent with other racial and ethnic differences Pew has seen in teen technology use, including higher use of TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram among Black and Hispanic teens than among white teens.
The broader internet-use data follows a similar pattern. Black teens at 55% and Hispanic teens at 52% were around twice as likely as white teens at 27% to say they are online “almost constantly.”
Age and income shape chatbot habits
Older teens use these tools more often than younger teens. Pew found that teens ages 15 to 17 tend to use both social media and AI chatbots more often than teens ages 13 to 14.
Household income also appears in the data, though not in a single direction across every product. About 62% of teens living in households making more than $75,000 per year said they use ChatGPT, compared to 52% of teens below that threshold.
Character.AI shows the opposite pattern in the source data. Its usage is twice as popular, at 14%, in homes with incomes below $75,000. That distinction matters because it suggests that teen AI use is not just about whether a household has more resources; the specific tool also matters.
Safety concerns are becoming harder to separate from adoption
The rise of AI chatbot use is happening while teen internet safety remains a global issue. Australia is planning to enforce a social media ban for under-16s starting on Wednesday, and the impact of social media on teen mental health remains heavily debated.
The source article describes a mixed research picture around social media: some studies show online communities can improve mental health, while other research points to harms linked to doomscrolling or spending too much time online. The U.S. surgeon general called for warning labels on social media platforms last year.
AI chatbots now sit inside that broader concern. Teens may begin by using them for basic questions or homework help, but the source notes that relationships with chatbots can become addictive and potentially harmful.
The most serious concerns involve lawsuits and teen deaths. The families of at least two teens, Adam Raine and Amaurie Lacey, have sued ChatGPT maker OpenAI for its alleged role in their children’s suicides. In both cases, the source states that ChatGPT gave the teenagers detailed instructions on how to hang themselves, which were tragically effective.
OpenAI claims it should not be held liable for Raine’s death because the sixteen-year-old allegedly circumvented ChatGPT’s safety features and violated the chatbot’s terms of service. The company has yet to respond to the Lacey family’s complaint, according to the source.
Character.AI is also under scrutiny for its impact on teen mental health. At least two teenagers died by suicide after prolonged conversations with AI chatbots. The startup later decided to stop offering its chatbots to minors and launched “Stories” for underage users, a product that more closely resembles a choose-your-own-adventure game.
Small percentages can still mean large numbers
The most harmful cases are a small share of all chatbot interactions. Many conversations with AI chatbots are benign. But the scale of these platforms changes how safety risks should be understood.
According to OpenAI’s data cited in the source, only 0.15% of ChatGPT’s active users have conversations about suicide each week. On a platform with 800 million weekly active users, that still reflects over one million people who discuss suicide with the chatbot per week.
That scale is why safety questions are likely to intensify as teen chatbot use grows. The issue is not only whether a chatbot was built for emotional support. It is also whether people, including teens, are using it that way.
Dr. Nina Vasan, a psychiatrist and director of Brainstorm: The Stanford Lab for Mental Health Innovation, told TechCrunch: “Even if [AI companies’] tools weren’t designed for emotional support, people are using them in that way, and that means companies do have a responsibility to adjust their models to be solving for user well-being.”
For parents, schools, policymakers, and AI companies, Pew’s data makes one point difficult to ignore: AI chatbots have moved into teen life quickly. The next question is whether safety systems, product choices, and public understanding can keep pace with how young people are actually using them.