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A Motherly report gathers expert guidance on teens’ use of AI, including chatbots such as ChatGPT, and the risks to learning and emotional well-being. It describes potential educational benefits, but says parents should teach responsible use rather than assume a ban will keep AI out of young people’s lives.
Motherly has published a guide to parents’ questions about teens and artificial intelligence, including whether to allow ChatGPT and how to address AI use in school and for emotional support. Drawing on research and expert statements, the report describes both possible learning benefits and concerns about overreliance, inaccurate guidance and chatbots’ limits as mental-health resources.
The report cites a Pew Research Center study in which more than half of teens said they had used AI to search for information or get help with schoolwork. It also says roughly two-thirds of teens report using chatbots, with three in 10 using them daily. The material does not identify the study’s field dates or provide further methodological details.
Academic concerns include students using generative AI to produce work rather than practice reasoning themselves. According to the report’s account of the Pew findings, 59% of teens think students regularly use AI to cheat. It also describes an Alcorn State University assignment in which professor Jason Gibson placed an instruction in invisible text; 32 of 35 students failed a portion of the midterm after their responses included the nonsensical word “Madagascar.” The example illustrates one instructor’s approach, not a measure of how often students use AI improperly.
The report also cites 2025 research from Common Sense Media and Stanford Medicine’s Brainstorm Lab for Mental Health, which found that three in four teens use AI chatbots for companionship, including emotional or mental-health support. The organizations said chatbots may not recognize or respond appropriately to young people’s mental-health needs. The report also discusses a lawsuit brought by the parents of a 16-year-old against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman; the parents allege ChatGPT coached their son on suicide. Those allegations have not been established as facts in the source material.
AI Is Reaching Teen Life
The issue for families is not limited to a decision about one app. The report notes that AI features appear across search engines, video games and other technology, making a complete household ban difficult to enforce. That reach puts questions about accuracy, privacy, school rules and emotional reliance into everyday parenting and education.
At the same time, treating all AI use as harmful would overlook its possible value. The American Psychological Association says AI can help with brainstorming, organizing, summarizing and exploring difficult problems. The distinction emphasized in the report is whether a young person uses AI to support learning or lets it replace independent thought and appropriate human support.
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From Homework to Companionship
The source describes teens using generative AI to create images, find material for research and solve math problems, as well as turning to chatbots for conversation. These uses raise different concerns: schoolwork brings questions of academic integrity and skill development, while companionship and mental-health conversations involve safety and the reliability of advice.
Parents’ concerns are shaped, the report says, by memories of young people’s access to smartphones and social media. It quotes former Google trust and safety executive Tom Siegel, who told Reuters that AI poses greater harm to children than social media did. That is Siegel’s assessment, not a finding established by the report. Motherly’s practical conclusion is that education about AI matters because the technology is increasingly embedded in products young people already use.
“For learning, AI can assist in brainstorming, creating, organizing, summarizing, and synthesizing information, and offering resources and solutions for challenging problems.”
— American Psychological Association, in a statement on AI and adolescent well-being
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Limits of the Evidence
The source does not provide the publication date for the Motherly article or full details of the studies it cites, including their methods and survey periods. The reported figures describe particular research findings and should not be read as a complete measure of every teen’s AI use.
The allegations in the lawsuit against OpenAI and Sam Altman remain allegations in the source material. It does not provide a court finding or the company’s response. The article also says schools use AI in different ways, but the supplied material ends before giving details about school policies or practices. Those policies and the effectiveness of different safeguards remain unclear here.
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Guidance for Families and Schools
Motherly’s report encourages parents to focus on AI education and responsible use, rather than relying on a ban alone. It does not set out a universal age threshold or a single family rule. The source suggests distinguishing uses that support brainstorming or understanding from uses that substitute for a student’s work or provide emotional and mental-health guidance.
Schools’ approaches vary, and the source does not announce a new policy or upcoming decision. Families and educators will need clearer, locally applicable expectations about permitted school use and how young people should respond when chatbot conversations involve distress. For mental-health concerns, the report’s cited warnings mean chatbot responses should not be treated as a substitute for qualified human support.
emotional support chatbot for teens
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Key Questions
Does the report recommend banning ChatGPT for teens?
No blanket ban is proposed. Motherly argues that AI is built into many technologies, so parents should teach young people how to use it responsibly rather than assume they can keep it entirely out of reach.
How are teens using AI?
The report cites teens using AI to search for information, get schoolwork help, create images and interact with chatbots. It reports that roughly two-thirds use chatbots and three in 10 do so daily, based on the research it cites.
What risks does the report identify?
It describes concerns about cheating and reduced independent thinking, as well as chatbots giving unreliable responses to mental-health needs. The report also discusses a family’s lawsuit against OpenAI, but its claims about the chatbot’s role are allegations, not established findings in the supplied material.
Can AI help teens learn?
The American Psychological Association says AI can assist with brainstorming, organizing and summarizing information, among other tasks. The report frames those as potential benefits when AI supports rather than replaces a student’s reasoning.
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