Japanese teens turn to AI

Japan’s Cabinet Office has produced one of the clearest recent snapshots yet of how teenagers are using generative AI outside schoolwork. The survey found that 52.4% of teenage girls who use generative AI said they consult it about personal worries, the highest share among any age or gender group, according to reports citing the government data. UCA News said those worries included relationships and loneliness. The finding has pushed a familiar technology question into a more intimate setting: not what teens do with chatbots for homework, but what they tell them when they want advice. ### Why did this Japanese survey get attention outside Japan? May 2026 coverage of the Cabinet Office survey focused on one number because it stood apart from the rest of the data. UCA News reported that more than half of teenage girls using generative AI turned to it for personal advice, while 63.1% said they trusted AI advice on personal relationships and social interactions. That made teenage girls the most AI-reliant group in the survey for this kind of use. (ucanews.com) The February survey covered 1,442 generative AI users, with 103 men and 103 women in each age group from their teens to their 70s and older, according to wire-style reports that cited the government results. Across all respondents, 23.3% said they used AI for consultation about worries, far below the figure reported for teenage girls. ### What were teens asking AI about? UCA News said teenage girls were using chatbots as a sounding board for “personal worries,” including relationships and loneliness. (ucanews.com) That matters because it places AI in a role closer to confidant than search engine. The same report said respondents described AI as nonjudgmental, a trait that can help explain why teens might use it for sensitive topics. (bernama.com) A separate January 2026 survey of 1,200 junior high and high school students in Japan, conducted by school-uniform maker Kankō Gakuseifuku and summarized by Nippon.com, pointed in a similar direction. It found 49.9% of girls used generative AI for consultation or conversation, more than double the rate for boys at 23.0%. ### Is this only about Japan, or part of a wider pattern? U.S. data suggest the broader pattern is not limited to Japan. (ucanews.com) Pew Research Center said in February 2026 that a majority of U.S. teens now use AI chatbots, based on a fall 2025 survey of 1,458 teens ages 13 to 17 and their parents. Pew’s report was broader than the Japanese survey and not limited to emotional support, but it documented how quickly chatbots had entered teen life. (nippon.com) The American Psychological Association said in a February 2, 2026 article that teens may turn to AI because it feels “safe, private, and nonjudgmental,” while warning that adolescents may be less likely to question the accuracy of responses and that reliance on these tools could interfere with healthy real-world relationships. APA said its guidance drew on expert advisories about AI, youth well-being, and mental health apps. (pewresearch.org) ### What are parents and adults being told to do? Lisa Jarvis, writing in Bloomberg Opinion and republished by The Korea Herald on May 19, said parents should approach teen AI use through trust and communication rather than bans alone. Jarvis cited clinical psychologist Lisa Damour, who said the goal should be for parents and teens to face the technology together. “Our posture matters,” Damour said. (apa.org) The APA offered similar practical advice, though in more clinical terms. Its recommendations included talking about privacy, asking rather than lecturing, setting rules together, watching for red flags such as AI replacing friends or sleep, and seeking professional help in crises because AI “can’t handle” them. ### What comes next in this story? The next step is likely to be more scrutiny of how minors use chatbots for emotional support rather than productivity alone. (koreaherald.com) Japan’s Cabinet Office survey has already supplied one benchmark, and U.S. researchers including Pew and the APA are continuing to map how teens and parents are adapting to AI in daily life. New guidance is most likely to come from psychologists, schools and national surveys that track teen technology use through 2026. (apa.org) (ucanews.com)