A Third of US Teens Engage with AI Companions for Communication and Relationships

According to a research study conducted by the nonprofit organization Common Sense Media, 72% of American teenagers have attempted to engage with AI companions.

In this study, «companions» refer specifically to chatbots designed for more personal and emotional conversations, rather than educational assistants, image generators, or voice-activated systems that provide answers to queries.

Examples of such tools include digital characters from platforms like Character.AI or Replika, as well as more general models like ChatGPT or Claude, provided they are used for personal interactions.

The findings reveal that conversations with AI are appealing to American teens aged 13 to 17, with 52% engaging in these interactions regularly.

The analysis was conducted between April and May 2025 and involved 1,060 participants.

Additional insights include:

In terms of engagement motivations:

Half of the teenagers express distrust towards the information provided by AI companions.

One-third of the respondents admitted that conversing with AI gives them greater satisfaction than chatting with friends, while 67% feel the opposite.

Thirty-nine percent utilize dialogues with AI as practice before engaging in real-world interactions, helping them develop social skills, conversation starters, advice-giving abilities, and emotional expression.

As for the concern about replacing real friends with artificial intelligence, there’s no immediate cause for alarm—only 6% spend more time with AI than with actual people.

As a reminder, in July, the AI startup xAI launched 3D-animated AI companions for Grok.