The Deep View: Why teens trust AI with their feelings

Posted on July 29, 2026 by michelleclarke2015
Why teens trust AI with their feelings
For chronically online youth, AI has evolved beyond a tool for homework and creative exploration. Increasingly, young people are turning to chatbots for emotional support.
A new report from Hopelab and the Center for Digital Thriving found that teenagers are often turning to chatbots to discuss emotional topics when they feel unable or unwilling to rely on the people around them for companionship. 
The researchers interviewed 30 teenagers and young adults ages 14 to 22, including LGBTQ+ folks and people of color, about their experiences using generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. Participants included both frequent AI users and young people opposed to using chatbots for emotional support. 
Researchers found that those who did turn to AI for support feel more understood, validated, and taken seriously by AI than the people around them. Six central themes emerged from the research: 
They don’t want to burden friends and family with their struggles.Chatbots won’t judge them or use their secrets against them. AI responds as though it understands experiences others may not relate to. AI is available whenever they need it. Some see chatbots as neutral third parties, even while recognizing they can pander to users. AI offers concrete, step-by-step guidance for navigating difficult emotions.
The findings add to a growing body of research showing how young people are navigating their social and emotional lives with AI. A Pew Research Center survey found that 12% of US teenagers have used generative AI for emotional support or advice, while research from Surgo Health and The Jed Foundation found that about one in eight young people who reported mental health struggles had discussed those concerns with chatbots.
The report raises broader questions about how AI could shape young people’s relationships and emotional development. It’s still unclear what, exactly, the risks may be. But rather than focusing solely on AI’s potential risks, the report’s authors argue that it’s crucial to understand what unmet needs are driving young people toward chatbots. AI has the potential to complement, rather than compete with, human relationships, the researchers claim.
“As we navigate the rapidly changing landscape of AI and set norms for safer use, young people’s experiences and motivations must be central,” the researchers wrote. “If we focus only on limiting risks without understanding why AI chatbots sometimes feel safer, kinder, or more competent than the humans in their lives, we risk pushing young people away from AI without offering better human alternatives.”
The line between human and machine interactions is starting to blur as AI increasingly creeps into users’ personal lives. Some are using chatbots to text, flirt, and navigate difficult conversations. Others are developing friendships and romantic relationships with AI companions. Young people who grew up with unfettered access to the internet are susceptible to engaging with AI with this level of depth. Researchers are still trying to understand what that shift means. One study found that young people who report loneliness and difficulty making friends are more likely to use AI for social and emotional support. As emotionally responsive AI becomes more common, researchers are increasingly asking how those interactions could shape expectations around friendship and intimacy. Those questions will only become more urgent as AI grows increasingly humanlike. OpenAI, for example, recently updated its Advanced Voice Mode to stutter, pause, and listen more closely, making conversations feel more natural. As AI are trained to be more emotionally attuned, understanding how those interactions shape human relationships may become just as important as understanding the technology itself.
Aaron Mok
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About michelleclarke2015

Life event that changes all: Horse riding accident in Zimbabwe in 1993, a fractured skull et al including bipolar anxiety, chronic fatigue …. co-morbidities (Nietzche 'He who has the reason why can deal with any how' details my health history from 1993 to date). 17th 2017 August operation for breast cancer (no indications just an appointment came from BreastCheck through the Post). Trinity College Dublin Business Economics and Social Studies (but no degree) 1997-2003; UCD 1997/1998 night classes) essays, projects, writings. Trinity Horizon Programme 1997/98 (Centre for Women Studies Trinity College Dublin/St. Patrick's Foundation (Professor McKeon) EU Horizon funded: research study of 15 women (I was one of this group and it became the cornerstone of my journey to now 2017) over 9 mth period diagnosed with depression and their reintegration into society, with special emphasis on work, arts, further education; Notes from time at Trinity Horizon Project 1997/98; Articles written for Irishhealth.com 2003/2004; St Patricks Foundation monthly lecture notes for a specific period in time; Selection of Poetry including poems written by people I know; Quotations 1998-2017; other writings mainly with theme of social justice under the heading Citizen Journalism Ireland. Letters written to friends about life in Zimbabwe; Family history including Michael Comyn KC, my grandfather, my grandmother's family, the O'Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forsters; Moral wrong: An acrimonious divorce but the real injustice was the Catholic Church granting an annulment – you can read it and make your own judgment, I have mine. Topics I have written about include annual Brain Awareness week, Mashonaland Irish Associataion in Zimbabwe, Suicide (a life sentence to those left behind); Nostalgia: Tara Hill, Co. Meath.
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