CLEVELAND, Ohio — Nearly 1 in 5 American adolescents and young adults say they have used AI chatbots for advice or help when feeling sad, angry, nervous or stressed, according to a new study.

And, they are keeping it a secret. Among adolescents and young adults who reported using AI chatbots for mental health advice, nearly two-thirds (63%) said they had not disclosed that use to anyone, the Rand study found.

The findings come as the United States continues to face a youth mental health crisis, and AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Character.AI and Meta AI have become widely available and heavily used by teens and young adults, researchers said.

The study results highlight the need for parents, healthcare workers and other trusted adults to help young people understand the benefits and limitations of these tools, Rand researchers said.

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“Many young people appear to be using AI chatbots for mental health advice privately, without the knowledge of parents, clinicians or other adults,” said Jonathan Cantor, a RAND senior policy researcher and study co-author. “That makes it especially important for adults to start conversations about how AI tools are being used and the role they should and should not play.”

Use of artificial intelligence chatbots for mental health advice among U.S. adolescents and young adults rose by more than 40% over the past year, the poll found.

Researchers estimated that the 2025 figure represents about 8.2 million young people nationwide, suggesting that AI chatbots are becoming an increasingly common source of emotional and mental health support.

“AI chatbots are already part of how many young people seek advice about their mental health,” said Ryan McBain, a senior policy researcher at RAND and lead author of the study. “The speed of growth is attention-grabbing, but so is the fact that most young people who use these tools for mental health advice say they are not telling anyone.”

The study was based on a nationally representative survey of 1,009 young people ages 12 to 21, conducted in November 2025 through RAND’s American Youth Panel.

Here are highlights of the report, which was recently published in JAMA Pediatrics:

Nearly 43% of users said they sought that advice at least monthly. A large majority, 92%, said the advice was somewhat or very helpful. Researchers noted that this may reflect chatbots’ tendency to flatter users rather than the actual quality of guidance provided.Nearly 20% of young people ages 12 to 21 said they had used AI chatbots for advice or help with coping with feelings. That is up from 13.1% in a similar RAND survey conducted a year earlier.AI chatbot use was more common among females than males and more common among young adults ages 18 to 21 than among younger teens ages 12 to 17. Youth who had spoken with a physician about their mental health in the prior six months also were more likely to report using AI chatbots for mental health advice.