1 in 5 American adolescents have gone to an AI chatbot for mental health guidance

Would you trust an AI chatbot to be your therapist, medical professional or confidante? New research shows that one in five American adolescents between the ages of 12-21 (around 8.2 million) are turning to Big AI’s chatbots for help with their mental health.

That marks a more than 40% increase in the past year, rising from just one in eight the previous year, a 1,009-person survey from the non-profit research institute RAND found.

The findings may not come as that much of a shock following the rise of chatbot use in schools and data showing that nearly half of U.S. teens used the platform multiple times each month.

Still, they raise many questions about the impact of asking AI for mental health guidance.

Mental health among U.S. teenagers has been at crisis levels in recent years, and suicide is the second leading cause of death for that age group, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.

AI chatbots have also been involved in investigations of the deaths of several U.S. teenagers who died by suicide, according to reports.

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Source: The Independent, 2 June 2026