The Rithm Project released new research on how young people use AI for emotional support.
The Research Combines a Survey With Interviews
The Rithm Project’s survey included nearly two thousand four hundred young people ages thirteen to twenty-four. More than five hundred respondents were young adults ages eighteen to twenty-four. The survey therefore covered both teenagers and young adults, with a sizeable group of older participants. Its broad age range provides the backdrop for the project’s examination of young people’s experiences with AI.¹
The project also released new research based on interviews with twenty-nine young people from the original study. Nineteen of those interviewees were either enrolled in college or had completed a bachelor’s or associate degree. The interviews add accounts from young people describing their own experiences, including a group with college experience; they are distinct from the larger survey.¹
The project also released new research based on interviews with twenty-nine young people from the original study.
Almost all interviewees described turning to AI for emotional support after a specific interpersonal challenge or disruption. The finding concerns the people who took part in the interviews, not every young person in the survey. Their accounts connect AI use for emotional support with a difficulty or change involving another person.¹
AI’s Shortcomings Can Feel Easier to Manage
Participants often saw AI as a safer place to share personal concerns because its shortcomings seemed easier to manage. Those shortcomings included bias and excessive validation. The safety they described was comparative: people weighed the risks of sharing with AI against other kinds of risk. The interviews show that perceived flaws did not necessarily stop participants from using the technology to discuss personal matters.¹
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Read More →Alison Lee, head of research and development at The Rithm Project, said young people described AI as “hallucinating” and “glazing” them. Lee said those risks felt more manageable than turning to a human. She described turning to a person as scary and vulnerable because of the fear of judgment and emotional reactivity. The contrast in her account is between recognized problems with AI and the emotional risk participants associated with human support.¹
The interviews suggest AI can act as either a bridge or a wedge between young people and their human relationships. The research does not describe one uniform effect. Its framing allows for AI to sit differently in people’s relationships: it can connect with those ties or divide from them. The distinction matters because using AI for emotional support does not, by itself, establish whether human relationships become closer or more distant.¹
Awareness Alone Does Not Determine How AI Is Used
Participants who understood and expressed concern about problematic AI behaviors were more likely to describe efforts to protect themselves. But Alison Lee, head of research and development at The Rithm Project, said recognizing those risks alone did not necessarily change how participants used AI. Awareness and protective efforts are therefore related in the interview findings, while awareness by itself does not guarantee a change in use.¹
Alison Lee, head of research and development at The Rithm Project, said the concern arises when AI becomes a young person’s only source of emotional support. She identified two factors in whether AI strengthens or undermines relationships: the kinds of questions young people ask the technology and whether they have real people to turn to for support. The research thus places both the conversation with AI and access to human support at the centre of its account.¹
But Alison Lee, head of research and development at The Rithm Project, said recognizing those risks alone did not necessarily change how participants used AI.
Check your human support network
When you weigh a role or a course, ask what support you have outside work. The interviews show young people turn to AI after a specific interpersonal disruption, and the risk rises when AI becomes the only source of emotional support. Before you accept a job that isolates you or a study plan that cuts you off from peers, list the real people you can turn to. If that list is short, that is a signal to build it before you rely on AI for daily decisions.¹
In pay talks or career planning, do not assume awareness of AI flaws changes your use. Participants who understood problematic AI behaviors were more likely to protect themselves, but recognizing the risks alone did not necessarily change how they used AI. That means you need a concrete habit, not just knowledge: schedule a human check-in after any AI-assisted decision, and ask yourself whether the questions you put to AI are ones a colleague or mentor could answer instead.¹
Sources
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Read More →Written by Career Ahead AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify key facts. Report errors to support@careeraheadonline.com
