Last week I watched Molly and the Machines with my 13-year-old.

We sat there, the two of us, as the story of Molly Russell unfolded. By the end, we were quiet in a way that felt important. If you haven’t seen it: make the time. Watch it with your teenager.

This piece begins a short three-part series on teenagers and AI usage.
Next: what the data says about the shift around 15–16.
Finally: a few practical things families can do about it.

The government’s ‘growing up in the online world’ consultation landed the same week. It asks the public what they think should be done about social media and children.

One question stood out for me: should there be mandatory overnight curfews?

The moment I started asking teenagers about this, really asking, I was struck by how many take their phone to bed. Go to sleep at 2 am. Can’t remember the last time they slept undisturbed. Which brought me to the question almost nobody is asking.

A question that made me want to dig into the stats we can access about their usage - the ones AI platforms are not sharing - that show me as a parent whether my kids are likely to use AI in the same way as social media.

It’s worth saying, this is by no means a finite answer in data; I’ve synthesised what’s available in the data we can access, and that’s in surveys, not in platform usage data.

Are we heading somewhere similar with AI?

What the numbers actually say
The data on teen AI use is fragmented; platforms don’t publish age-specific figures, but three large surveys in the last year have given us the clearest picture yet.

The Ofcom figure, 50% of UK 8–17s, was 46% a year ago. That rise, in a single year, is driven by 13–15-year-olds, whose use of AI tools nearly doubled, from 11% to 19%.

Fast. Not slow.

But the number that stops me isn’t adoption, it’s this:

What young people are actually doing with AI
When Pew asked, homework and information came top. By a distance.

This is genuinely reassuring. A teenager asking ChatGPT to explain photosynthesis or fix their essay structure is saying that they’re using AI the way a smart study tool was always meant to be used.

Episodic. Task-focused. Done when the task is done.

There’s no algorithm trying to keep them there. They ask. They get an answer. They leave. Nothing like the endless scroll of TikTok or Instagram.

But here’s the part worth sitting with

Around the age of 15 - 16, something shifts. The data points toward a growing number of teenagers who are likely to turn to AI not just for homework but for conversation, advice, and emotional support. Not just dedicated companion apps like Replika and Character AI, which are designed primarily for conversation rather than tasks, but also mainstream chatbots like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Grok.²

When it comes to dedicated companion AI apps, Common Sense Media's July 2025 survey found that 72% of American teenagers have tried one. Over half of those are regular users. One in three has discussed something serious with an AI companion instead of a real person.

That’s not a niche finding.
That’s the world our teenagers are already in.

The question is which teenagers, and when? Edition 2 of this newsletter will look at the data behind that shift, what it shows and why 15–16 is the number to watch.

COMING UP

Next: Edition 2
What’s actually happening at night
The AI childhood ladder and the age shift around 15–16.

Age & AI explores what it means to grow up and grow old with artificial intelligence.

If you’d like the next edition when it publishes, you can subscribe here.