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

Mental HealthAround 1 in 5 young people use AI chatbots for mental health advice, survey findsExperts worry that some young people are turning to AI bots during mental health crises, which the tech is not made to handle. An author of the survey said regulations are needed.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00A survey asked people ages 12 to 21 whether they had used a service like ChatGPT or GoogleGemini for mental health advice. Around 19% of respondents said yes.mikimad / Getty ImagesShareAdd NBC News to GoogleJune 1, 2026, 12:20 PM EDTBy Aria Bendix and Angela YangNearly 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. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.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...