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Almost half of tweens have used an AI chatbot or companion, new research finds

Plus more findings from our 2026 Census on how AI is fitting into young people's digital lives.
Child on iPad

By Dr. Supreet Mann

Director of Research, Common Sense Media

 

The most popular AI chatbots officially require users to be at least 13 years old. But nearly half of American 9- to 12-year-olds have used an AI chatbot or companion, including more than a third of 9-year-olds. 

 

That's one of the key findings of our new report, The 2026 Common Sense Media Census: Tech and Media Use by Tweens and Teens, based on a nationally representative survey of 1,211 young people age 9 to 17.

 

Kids' days are packed with screen media. A typical teen spends about eight hours a day with screen media for entertainment, while a typical tween spends about five. This year's Census also asked about AI chatbot usage and the enjoyment young people are getting from it, and the responses make clear that AI has quickly become a routine part of kids' lives.

 

AI use starts early

 

AI use starts as early as 9, and climbs quickly with age: 36% of 9-year-olds use it, and more than half (55%) of 11-year-olds. By 13, nearly three-quarters (73%) of kids have used these chatbots. This follows a pattern similar to social media use.

 

Age gating doesn't appear to be working among the general population. For tweens and teens who used AI on the day before the survey, both spent about an hour with it, suggesting that once kids start using AI, age doesn't change much when it comes to how long they use it. Across all the young people we surveyed, 65% have ever used AI in their free time, including 77% of teens. Nearly half of teens (47%) and a quarter of tweens (26%) use it at least weekly.

 

Using AI isn't the same as enjoying it

 

For many young people, there is a large gap between use of media and enjoyment. Young people consume many different types of screen media but report they don't find it highly enjoyable. In fact, AI has the widest gap between use and enjoyment of any type of screen media we asked about. While nearly three-quarters of teens and almost half of tweens have used AI, only 11% of teen users and 15% of tween users say they enjoy it "a lot."

 

And when we asked young people to name the one platform they couldn't live without, only 4% chose ChatGPT, the most popular AI chatbot in our survey. YouTube, by comparison, was the top pick for 66% of tweens and 32% of teens. One explanation is that kids are using AI the way someone uses a search engine or word processor. It's a tool, not entertainment, and we wouldn't necessarily expect someone to love a tool. Another explanation is that teens feel a good deal of ambivalence about their AI use, so they don't rate it as a positive experience. But this raises important concerns, as AI products are increasingly designed to be enjoyed, by embedding them with personalities or designs that tap into teens' social and emotional drives.

 

For more on how tweens and teens are using screen media, read the full report, The 2026 Common Sense Media Census: Tech and Media Use by Tweens and Teens.