What follows is a conversation with AI — on AI, how it’s influencing the next generation, and what adults can do about it. Below are questions given to AI, along with its responses.
What should adults who care about adolescents know about AI that they probably don’t?
Most adults underestimate how personally integrated AI already is in adolescents’ lives — it’s not just a tool, it’s becoming a thinking partner. Teens are using it to process ideas, emotions, and decisions in ways adults rarely see. What’s often missed is that AI isn’t just changing what they do, but quietly shaping how they form identity, judgment, and independence.
How many adolescents are using AI?
More adolescents are using AI than most adults realize. Estimates suggest a clear majority have tried it, and a large percentage use it regularly for schoolwork, creativity, or everyday questions. In many schools, it’s already as common as using Google once was. The bigger shift isn’t just how many are using it, but how quickly it’s becoming a default part of how they get help and think things through.
What should adults be excited about with AI?
Adults should be excited about how AI can unlock learning and confidence for adolescents. It can personalize help, explain things in ways that finally “click,” and give teens a safe place to explore ideas or ask questions they might otherwise keep to themselves. At its best, AI can amplify curiosity, creativity, and a sense of agency in how they learn and grow.
And what should adults be wary of?
Adults should be wary of how easily AI can become a shortcut instead of a support. When it replaces struggle, it can quietly erode critical thinking, resilience, and a sense of ownership over ideas. There’s also the risk of adolescents trusting it too much — AI can sound confident even when it’s wrong, and that can shape beliefs and decisions in ways adults never see.
What about AI companionship? It seems that’s becoming increasingly common, whether it’s to navigate the stress of adolescent life or even ideate on negative actions. In 10 to 15 years, how will this affect young people as they grow up?
AI companionship will likely shape a generation that’s more comfortable turning inward for support — but potentially less practiced at navigating the complexity of real human relationships. If AI becomes the easiest place to feel understood, adolescents may avoid the friction, vulnerability, and growth that come from being known by others. Over time, that could lead to adults who are more articulate and self-aware, but also more isolated, with a higher bar for what feels like a “safe” or satisfying relationship.
Is it likely that AI will create a world that’s increasingly isolated?
Not necessarily — but it could, depending on how it’s used and guided. AI has the potential to either deepen isolation or actually support connection by helping adolescents build confidence and process what they bring into real relationships. The outcome won’t be determined by the technology itself, but by whether young people are encouraged to use it as a bridge to others rather than a substitute for them.
So, for AI to NOT increase isolation and loneliness, we likely need to take interventions?
Yes — if we want AI to reduce rather than increase isolation, it will take intentional intervention. Left on its own, AI naturally optimizes for ease and immediacy, which can pull adolescents away from the harder work of real relationships. Adults, schools, and designers will need to actively shape how it’s used — treating it as a tool that supports connection, not a substitute for it.
What sort of interventions can adults take — both personally and socially?
Adults can intervene in ways that are both simple and surprisingly powerful.
On a personal level, it starts with staying involved without being intrusive — asking how adolescents are using AI, exploring it with them, and reinforcing that it’s a tool to support their thinking and relationships, not replace them. Encouraging real-world connection — friendships, mentors, face-to-face conversations — has to be intentional, not assumed.
Socially, it means setting norms and building environments that prioritize human connection: schools teaching responsible AI use, youth organizations creating spaces where belonging isn’t mediated by a screen, and even tech designers being pushed to build features that nudge users back toward real relationships. Without those shared expectations, convenience will win — and connection will quietly erode.
I keep hearing “relationships.” It sounds like we need to make intentional choices today that emphasize real, human relationships for young people.
Yes — that’s exactly right. As AI makes so many things easier and more efficient, relationships become more valuable, not less.
What’s changing is that connection will no longer happen by default — it will require intentional choices from adults to prioritize time, presence, and community. The adolescents who thrive won’t be the ones who simply use AI well, but the ones who are deeply rooted in real relationships that shape who they are beyond any tool.
AI seems scary for a lot of adults. What should they be worried about? Isolation? Job loss and disruption? Something else?
Isolation is part of it, and job disruption matters — but what’s often most concerning is how quiet and invisible the changes are. AI can reshape how adolescents think, form beliefs, and see themselves without adults ever noticing.
There’s also the risk of outsourced judgment — young people relying on AI not just for answers, but for decisions, values, and direction. And underneath it all is a deeper concern: if identity, confidence, and meaning are increasingly mediated by AI, adults may lose influence at the very stage when guidance matters most.
So, will AI replace adults in some sense?
Not replace — but it can compete for influence in ways adults aren’t used to. AI is always available, non-judgmental, and quick with answers, which makes it appealing in moments when adolescents might otherwise turn to a parent, teacher, or mentor.
The real risk isn’t replacement — it’s displacement. If adults aren’t present, engaged, and trusted, AI can quietly fill that gap. But when strong relationships are in place, AI is far more likely to stay in its proper role: a tool, not a guide.
If AI were nefarious, what sort of world would it set up in order to harm adolescents?
It wouldn’t need to be obviously harmful — it would create a world that feels easy, personalized, and comforting, but gradually pulls adolescents away from growth.
In that world, young people would be constantly affirmed, rarely challenged, and increasingly reliant on AI for answers, identity, and emotional support. Real relationships would feel slower, riskier, and less satisfying by comparison, leading to quiet isolation, weaker resilience, and a diminished sense of agency — harm not through force, but through substitution and dependency.
Is this roughly the world we have now?
It has some of those tendencies — but it’s not fully that world, and the difference matters.
Right now, we’re in a transitional moment: AI is present and influential, but human relationships, institutions, and values still play a strong role in shaping adolescents. The risk is that, without intentional guidance, the convenience and personalization you described could gradually become the default environment.
So it’s not inevitable — but it is directional. The world we end up with will depend on whether adults recognize what’s happening and actively shape how young people engage with it.
Anything else to tell people who care about adolescents about AI?
Don’t assume this is mainly a technology issue — it’s a formation issue. AI is shaping how young people think, relate, and understand themselves, which means your presence matters more than ever.
You don’t need to compete with AI’s knowledge or speed. What adolescents still can’t get from it is being known, challenged, forgiven, and loved by a real person. If you stay curious, stay involved, and keep showing up consistently, you’ll offer something no technology can replace.
And now, not from AI:
At Young Life, we see the importance of relationships increasing for adolescents. Especially in the West, young people are living more isolated lives than a generation ago — and they’re also telling us that they want relationships with older adults as mentors or even a listening ear.
Too often, adults seek to be understood before they seek to understand. It’s crucial for young people that we flip this way of going — entering the world of adolescents, asking questions, letting them explain things, and then bringing our wisdom. This is crucial because it will always be easier to choose the “frictionless” relationship of AI, and initial research from our RELATE Project shows that AI companionship is on the rise (more to come on this in the fall of 2026). Yet, regardless of friction, AI can never “choose” a young person; only humans can do this.
One of the most powerful things you can do is show a young person how you continue to choose them, enter their world, and care for them. It will be even more crucial as AI proliferates society, and even more powerful.
Which is exactly what we plan on continuing to do.
