What Changes During Adolescence?

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GenAI policy and regulatory safeguards for teens are critical but moving slower than the technology.

Teens are using GenAI more than parents realize and may turn to AI due to lack of trusted offline support.

Teens are not blindly trusting AI and still rely on parents and other adults for guidance on complex issues.

Parents and trusted adults can offer genuine connection and communication that AI cannot replicate.

While GenAI may have computer programmers looking over their shoulders, I can assure you that the job of parenting will be marked safe.

On the heels of social media, GenAI has cracked open a fresh set of concerns for parents about the mental health and well-being of young users. We’ve seen the headlines. Naturally, they’re alarming for parents of the youth who are increasingly navigating the good, the bad, and the unknown of these technologies. Knowing how to balance the risks and benefits of a technology that seems to morph weekly is a tall order.

But, parents (and trusted adults) have the benefit of a tried-and-true solution that can help immediately support and guide their youth: communication and connection.

Understandably, trotting out "communication and connection" may seem to lack the potency needed to address the seriousness of the situation. Let me be clear, we should be taking to the streets to demand that technology companies be held responsible for creating safeguards to protect youth users from the unintended consequences of using their solutions. Especially, when the potential for using GenAI chatbots outside of their intended scope (say, for mental health advice) is so high.

For instance, the CHATBOT Act introduced in the House on March 18 proposed firm FTC-enforced restrictions to prevent AI chatbots from masquerading as mental health or medical health professionals. The CHAT Act, introduced in the Senate in the fall of 2025, proposed federal legislation to strengthen age-verification measures and protections for youth around high-risk content such as self-harm, suicide, or sexually explicit content. Similarly, on March 30, Gavin Newsom set a four-month timer requiring any AI company wanting to do business in California to demonstrate stringent policies and practices to safeguard against child sexual abuse material, bias, and violation of civil rights.

Though important work is underway, parents and caring adults still need to know what to do now.

First, adults do need to know that the horse is out of the barn. Recent survey data from Common Sense Media, Surgo Health, and Pew Research Center show that between 64 and 72 percent of teens have engaged with GenAI technologies, which is at odds with parents’ perceptions of use, which hover around 50 percent. And, nearly 30 percent of parents had no idea whether their teens used chatbots. Now you know.

Second, the data about teen AI use and mental health make a clear case for the power of connection with trusted adults, the kind of connection that cannot be co-opted by AI. Pew and Surgo Health’s large-scale studies found that around 12 percent of youth engaged with AI for mental health reasons. It was the absence of a trusted connection, family support, or other forms of offline support that drove 9 percent of 1,300 youth surveyed to turn to AI instead. Far from blind trust, and despite high use rates, many teens are measured in their usage and even skeptical about AI.

Third, even as peers take center stage and independence matters more, teens still rely on guidance from their parents for important topics, like politics, for instance, even when they disagree. At the same time, 2024 SAMHSA data show that many teens worry about burdening others with their own problems and don’t get treatment because they believe they should handle the problems on their own.

While GenAI may be increasingly part of our teens' lives, it will never sit across from our teens at the dinner table, hug them in a difficult moment, or take the first step to reach out. The time is now for adults to get curious with teens about their experiences with AI, have regular nonjudgmental conversations, and collaborate to create boundaries and expectations for use. Issue an open invitation for young people to share their concerns and confusion about technology, as well as their positive experiences with it, but also to share their lives in general. When we’re more present than the prompt, offering genuine connection, we’re not just parenting. We’re doing the job that no machine was ever built to steal. And it is exactly what the moment calls for.

What Changes During Adolescence?

Find a therapist to support kids and teens

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