It’s been established that most teenagers in the U.S. have used artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots, but a February report from Pew Research Center found that searching for information (57 percent) and getting homework help (54 percent) are among top reasons.
“For a minority of teens, chatbots have become a go-to tool for much of their schoolwork. One-in-ten teens say they do all or most of their schoolwork with chatbots’ help,” the report states. “Larger shares say they do some (21 percent) or a little (23 percent) of their schoolwork with the help of a chatbot. Another 45 percent haven’t used them in this way.”
Of those who used chatbots, 48 percent of teens have utilized them for help researching a topic, 43 percent for help solving a math problem and 35 percent for help editing something they wrote. Fifty-one percent said that chatbots are at least somewhat helpful with their schoolwork.
The report breaks down teens’ use of AI and chatbots by race and ethnicity, gender and household income. “About six-in-ten Black or Hispanic teens say they’ve used chatbots to get help with schoolwork. That drops to roughly half of white teens,” according to the report. “Specifically, Black and Hispanic teens are more likely to say chatbots have been helpful for their schoolwork — and more likely to use them frequently for this.”
These findings are according to a survey of 1,458 young people aged 13-17 and their parents conducted during a two-week period between September and October 2025.
“A majority of teens (59 percent) think using AI to cheat is a regular occurrence at their school — happening at least somewhat often. This includes about a third who say it happens extremely or very often,” according to the report. “Another 14 percent of teens say students at their school rarely or never cheat using AI chatbots. Still, some teens are unsure if this happens (15 percent). Teens who have ever used chatbots for schoolwork help are especially likely to think cheating is a regular occurrence.”
Other primary ways teens have used chatbots include for fun/entertainment (47 percent); to summarize an article, book or video (42 percent); to create or edit images/videos (38 percent); to get news (19 percent); for casual conversation (16 percent); and for emotional support/advice (12 percent).
The impact of AI
Overall, in the next 20 years, 36 percent of teens believe AI will have a positive impact on their life, 32 percent think it will be equally positive and negative, 15 percent feel it will be negative and 17 percent weren’t sure. For society, 31 percent feel it will be positive, 34 percent said it will be equally positive and negative, 26 percent said AI will have a negative effect and 8 percent were unsure.
The top reasons teens predicted AI would be positive for society revolved around allowing for better and easier lives, creating access to learning and information and more efficiency/productivity. Concerns related to an overreliance on the technology and loss of critical thinking and creativity, loss of jobs, misinformation and that it may be misused/be a threat.
Important to combatting the spread of misinformation is AI literacy, which is also covered in the report, as well as parents’ perspectives on their teens’ use of AI.
