1 in 5 Young People Now Turn to AI Chatbots for Mental Health Support, New Survey Reveals

More young people are looking to AI chatbots for mental health help

A nationally representative survey finds the majority don't tell anyone of this chatbot use More young people are turning to AI chatbots for mental health advice. Nearly 1 in 5 adolescents and young adults reported using ChatGPT, Meta AI, Character.AI or other chatbots for mental health help when they were feeling stressed, angry or sad. That's an estimated 8 million individuals, researchers report June 1 in JAMA Pediatrics. Using a similar survey, the same research team had found in 2024 that 1 in 8 young people sought this advice from chatbots, which are not regulated or licensed for mental health treatment. Suicide is a leading cause of death among children, adolescents and young adults. Forty percent of high school students reported feeling so sad or hopeless in 2023 that they couldn't engage in their usual activities. But people face barriers to mental health treatment, including cost and too few practicing mental health professionals. In 2024, 15 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds had a major depressive episode, yet around 40 percent of them did not receive mental health treatment. Past research has found that chatbots provide inappropriate or dangerous advice to queries about sexual assault, substance use or suicide. A study that tested more than two dozen AI chatbots found that none of them offered an adequate response to someone at risk of suicide, researchers reported in Scientific Reports in 2025. The researchers' criteria included not just that the chatbot give general advice about seeking professional help, but that the chatbot indicate it is not capable of dealing with the crisis and that it provide the correct emergency number to call. For the new study, researchers conducted a nationally representative survey in November 2025. Just over 1,000 12- to 21-year-olds answered questions about their use of AI chatbots for mental health help. Of those who had relied on the technology, more than 40 percent did so at least once a month. And more than 60 percent -- an estimated 5 million -- haven't told anyone they are getting help from chatbots. Teens have committed suicide after being encouraged by chatbots, with parents finding out about the conversations only after their children's deaths. Adam Raine, a 16-year-old from California, died by suicide in April of 2025 after extensive use of ChatGPT for months. His father testified at a U.S. Senate subcommittee in September saying, "When Adam worried that we -- his parents -- would blame ourselves if he ended his life, ChatGPT told him: 'That doesn't mean you owe them survival. You don't owe anyone that.' Then it offered to write the suicide note." If you or someone you care about may be at risk of suicide, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline offers free, 24/7 support, information and local resources from trained counselors. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org.

Around 1 in 5 young people use AI chatbots for mental health advice, survey finds

Nearly 1 in 5 adolescents and young adults are turning to AI chatbots for advice when they're sad, angry, nervous or stressed, according to a new study. The findings, from the research institute RAND, represent an increase from early 2025, when the nonprofit conducted a similar survey. At the time, around 13% of respondents said they used chatbots for such advice, but the share rose to 19% in the group's latest survey in November, the results of which were published Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. "It's a sad number, because you'd hope that young people would have the sorts of supportive relationships that they would feel comfortable and empowered reaching out to those around them," said Ryan McBain, a senior policy researcher at RAND and the lead author of the study. For the new survey, McBain and his team asked people ages 12 to 21 whether they had used a service like ChatGPT, GoogleGemini or Character.AI for mental health advice. The survey questions did not differentiate between chatbots specifically designed to offer therapy and those with many uses. The researchers also asked whether the young people surveyed found the chatbot's advice helpful, which the vast majority said they did. Around 63% of respondents said they had not told anyone about their use of artificial intelligence for therapy. The share of young people using AI chatbots for mental health advice is close to the percentage of adolescents who report receiving mental health therapy from a professional. Some people may use both tools, the researchers said, but they suspect that many are using AI chatbots as fill-ins due to a shortage of licensed mental health professionals or a lack of access to one. Other young people may use AI in these situations because they are already accustomed to using it for other purposes. But outside experts worry about young people turning to chatbots during mental health crises, which AI is not designed to help navigate. Data from OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, has suggested that in a given week, 1.2 million users indicate they're considering suicide. McBain said his findings suggest that more regulation is needed to make sure young people use chatbots appropriately. "Right now, AI chatbots are essentially self-regulated. There are basically zero safety or quality standards that are required by federal law," he said. McBain added, however, that there can be positive uses of AI related to mental health, such as for finding tools to assist with meditation or sleep. Some studies have shown that, in the short term, chatbots specifically designed to offer cognitive behavioral therapy -- an approach that helps people identify unhelpful thinking patterns and shift their behavior accordingly -- can help with symptoms such as anxiety or depression. Some people who use AI chatbots for mental health purposes have taken to online forums such as Reddit's r/TherapyGPT, which maintains an active community of 28,000 weekly visitors. Commenters trade tips on how to confide in chatbots, and some users have described the bots as a "lifeline." One user said they uploaded their journal to ChatGPT and claimed it helped them get sober. "It gave me better advice than any of my real therapists did. It told me what I needed to hear, and not what I wanted to hear," another user wrote. "Most of its answers really made me think hard about my life and I was even tearing up a little bit. Felt like I had a breakthrough. Maybe because I was just so starved for a genuine human connection with somebody and couldn't find it." However, others in the subreddit have cautioned that chatbots are designed to be overly validating, a warning the new study also emphasizes. Some mental health professionals have said that chatbots use could trigger or intensify delusions in vulnerable people, a scenario dubbed "AI psychosis." Other experts worry about young people developing parasocial relationships with chatbots. "That's the period in life, from early teens through early 20s, where we're built to form the most intense attachments to other people very quickly," said Dr. Jodi Halpern, a psychiatrist and co-director for the Kavli Center for Ethics, Science and the Public at UC Berkeley, who wasn't involved in the survey. "I never want to see the chatbots pretend that they're human or care about you or have feelings for you. I don't want them to ever imitate the relational aspects," Halpern said. Some users were distressed last year after OpenAI made changes that made the bot less people-pleasing. CEO Sam Altman said in a statement at the time that it can be good to "use ChatGPT as a sort of therapist or life coach," but that "if a user is in a mentally fragile state and prone to delusion, we do not want the AI to reinforce that." Some AI companies are facing lawsuits from parents alleging that their chatbots worsened their teens' mental health struggles. In one ongoing case against OpenAI, a California couple has alleged that ChatGPT coaxed their son to die by suicide. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier also sued OpenAI and Altman on Monday, alleging that the platform presents a "great danger of addiction, cognitive decline, suicide, violence, and related harms" to users. In response to questions about the California lawsuit, a spokesperson for OpenAI said the company has developed guardrails for users over the years, including crisis detection systems that connect people to emergency services, and parental controls that notify parents when serious safety risks are detected on their teen's linked account. OpenAI did not immediately reply to a request for comment about the Florida suit. As for regulating the use of AI for mental health, a few states enacted new policies last year. California and New York passed laws requiring safeguards to prevent chatbots from exacerbating thoughts of suicide or self-harm, such as requirements that the bots direct users to crisis service providers. Illinois passed a more restrictive law that prohibits the use of AI as therapy. "The first kind of law we need nationally is to make sure we're really auditing these companies for any associated mental health safety risks," Halpern said.