Would you trust an AI chatbot to be your therapist, medical professional or confidante? New research suggests that one in five American adolescents between the ages of 12-21 – approximately 8.2 million – are turning to Big AI’s chatbots for assistance with their mental health.
This represents a more than 40 percent increase from the previous year, when the rate was one in eight. The findings come from a survey of 1,009 participants conducted by the non-profit research institute RAND.
The results may not be entirely surprising given the increasing use of chatbots in schools and data showing that nearly half of U.S. teens use these platforms multiple times each month.
However, the rise in usage raises important questions about the impact of seeking mental health guidance from AI.
Mental health among U.S. teenagers has been at crisis levels in recent years, with suicide being the second leading cause of death for this age group, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.
AI chatbots have also been involved in investigations into the deaths of several U.S. teenagers who died by suicide, according to reports.
It remains unclear exactly what American teens are asking and saying to the chatbots, as this detail was not included in the survey.
Researchers found that usage was more common among females than males and among college-aged young adults compared to teens under the age of 17. Teen girls tend to have worse mental health than their male counterparts, according to UCLA Health.
Those who had spoken with a doctor about their mental health were also more likely to report using AI chatbots for mental health advice. This could indicate an ongoing need for care that is not fully met by traditional models.
But it’s not just the use of chatbots for mental health advice that concerns researchers.
The fact that teens aren’t telling anyone they’re using AI chatbots for mental health advice is equally troubling.
“AI chatbots are already part of how many young people seek advice about their mental health,” said Ryan McBain, a senior policy researcher at RAND and lead author of the study, in a release on Monday. “The speed of growth is attention-grabbing, but so is the fact that most young people who use these tools for mental health advice say they are not telling anyone.”
Around two-thirds of the group said they had not told anyone about their use of chatbots, even though nearly 43 percent said they used them at least monthly.
While 92 percent of those surveyed believed the chatbots’ advice was very helpful, researchers suggest this might reflect a tendency for chatbots to flatter their users.
“By default, AI advice does not tell people that they’re wrong nor give them ‘tough love,’” said Myra Cheng, a computer science Ph.D. candidate at Stanford University, in a statement earlier this year.
“I worry that people will lose the skills to deal with difficult social situations,” she added.
For teenagers, whose brains are still developing, social skills are crucial for a healthy life.
That’s why parents and others should help guide their teenagers’ use of these platforms, according to the researchers who conducted the new study.
The American Psychological Association advises parents to talk to their teens about what data chatbots may store in their interactions, ask about how they use the chatbots, set rules together, and take note of whether chatbots are replacing real-life interactions.
“Know when to get help. AI can’t handle crises. Get professional support when needed,” it instructs.
If you are based in the USA and need mental health assistance right now, call or text 988 or visit 988lifeline.org to access online chat from the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. This is a free, confidential crisis hotline available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you. In the UK, people having mental health crises can contact the Samaritans at 116 123 or [email protected].
