One in Five Students Is Asking a Chatbot for Emotional Advice

Your teenager closes their laptop when you walk in. New Canadian research suggests that for a growing number of kids, what is on the screen is not a group chat or a game. It is a conversation with an AI about how they are feeling.

A large University of Ottawa study finds that a striking share of young people now turn to AI chatbots for emotional support, and the experts reading the data are both concerned and careful about what it actually means.

What is driving this, and why is this happening now

Researchers at the University of Ottawa surveyed close to 40,000 students in Grades 4 through 12 across Ontario and found that roughly one in five had used AI chatbots for emotional support or advice. The students who did were twice as likely to have clinical emotional problems as those who did not. Lead author Tracy Vaillancourt, the Canada Research Chair in Youth Mental Health and Violence Prevention, is careful about what that means. Her read is that something is usually already there, and the chatbot is one more place a young person goes looking for help.

The study found clear patterns in who reaches for it. Gender-diverse students used AI for emotional advice at the highest rate, at 34.2 percent, followed by girls at 27.2 percent and boys at 14.2 percent. Use climbed steadily with age. There is a spillover from schoolwork too, since about 43.2 percent of students reported using AI for academics, and heavier academic users were more likely to also turn to a chatbot for emotional support. Part of what draws young people in is simple isolation, and the health effects of loneliness are more serious than most families assume.

What are experts warning, and what the experts are warning about

The concern the experts raise is not that chatbots are unkind. It is that they sound authoritative while having no actual authority behind them. Dr. Peter Selby, a senior scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and a professor at the University of Toronto, who was not part of the study, describes the current situation as having no proper regulation around who should use these tools or what safety questions need answering first. He puts it as a question for parents: which of them would knowingly send their child to an unqualified therapist.

There is also a developmental angle. Dr. Jason Nagata, a pediatrician and adolescent medicine researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, who was also not involved in the research, points out that chatbots can imitate empathy while skipping the parts of human interaction that build social maturity, things like negotiating, compromising and working through conflict. That gap matters because real help is genuinely hard to reach, with long queues laid out in reporting on why psychiatric bed wait times keep climbing. The researchers were not dismissive, though. Vaillancourt notes that some children feel genuinely isolated with nobody to turn to, and for them at least there is something there.

What should parents do, and what can you do starting today

The goal, the researchers stress, is not to ban AI chatbots for emotional support outright, which experts consider unrealistic, but to help young people use it more safely. Nagata's starting point is realistic rather than restrictive. Given how quickly this technology is spreading, he says expecting teenagers not to use it may not be reasonable, and the goal is helping young people get the benefit while limiting the harm. For teenagers, he suggests setting an intention before opening a chatbot, meaning a specific goal and a rough time limit. He also advises young people to fact-check what they are told and to notice how much time they are spending and whether their sleep is changing, the same kind of screen awareness raised in coverage of what nightly screen time does to the brain.

For parents, his advice is less technical than most people expect. Parents do not need to be AI experts, he says; they need to be curious conversation partners. That means asking how AI is being used and taking an interest in the questions your kid is bringing to it, because those questions are often the clearest signal of what is actually going on. Vaillancourt frames the whole finding as a prompt for the adults, saying grown-ups need to signal often and clearly that they are available.

Frequently asked questions

How many students use AI chatbots for emotional support

In a University of Ottawa survey of nearly 40,000 Ontario students in Grades 4 to 12, about one in five reported using AI chatbots for emotional support or advice. Rates were highest among gender-diverse students at 34.2 percent, followed by girls at 27.2 percent and boys at 14.2 percent, and rose with age.

Are AI chatbots safe for teens' mental health?

Experts urge caution. Chatbots can sound authoritative without clinical training or regulation, and they may imitate empathy while skipping interactions that build social skills. Purpose-built mental health chatbots exist but the evidence is mixed and early. For real distress, a licensed professional is the safer choice, not a general chatbot.

What should parents do if their teen uses AI for advice

Stay curious rather than banning it outright. Ask how the tool is being used and what questions your teen brings to it, since those questions often reveal what is really going on. Encourage setting a goal and time limit before each use, fact-checking answers, and watching for changes in sleep or mood.

Where can a struggling young person in Canada get help

Young people can reach Kids Help Phone any time by calling 1-800-668-6868 or texting CONNECT to 686868. Anyone in crisis can call or text 9-8-8, Canada's Suicide Crisis Helpline. For ongoing support, a family doctor or mental health practitioner can connect a young person with appropriate care.

Where to turn for real support

If a young person in your life is struggling, they can reach Kids Help Phone any time at 1-800-668-6868 or by texting CONNECT to 686868, and you can find a family doctor or mental health practitioner near you when it is time for professional support, or explore more youth mental health coverage on the Medimap Health Hub.

This article is general information, not medical advice. It is not a substitute for care from a qualified health professional. If you or a young person is in crisis, call or text 9-8-8, or call Kids Help Phone at 1-800-668-6868. For an emergency, call 911.