Lessons from the Field: Six Reasons Young People Told Us They Go to AI Instead of Humans for Emotional Support

Key Findings

• — Six stated reasons for choosing AI over people: not wanting to burden friends ('you don't want to trauma dump all over your friends'); confidence that secrets 'won't be used against me'; a sense that the chatbot has 'been through the exact thing'; availability at any hour, including late at night; willingness to say when the user is 'in the wrong'; and concrete, resource-linked advice.
• — Participants described chatbots as non-judgmental, thorough and consistently available, while acknowledging that people 'have AI beat for emotional warmth, honesty, and closeness'.
• — Some young people use AI as a first stop before seeking human support; the memo frames displacement as a signal about the availability and quality of human support, not only a property of the technology.
• — Focus groups included both users and non-users of AI chatbots for emotional support; the sample oversampled LGBTQ+ young people and young people of colour.

Methodology Notes

Qualitative only, no prevalence estimates. Semi-structured focus groups and interviews with 30 young people aged 14 to 22 in the United States: four focus groups with 19 high-school students convened with In Tandem, plus individual interviews on the Dscout remote research platform with 11 additional young people aged 14 to 22 who reported using AI for emotional support (the 28 July 2026 press release gives 22 for the focus-group count; the memo's own methods note, 19 plus 11, is used here). Fieldwork in spring 2026 as part of a larger youth-engaged survey design process. The memo is dated 'July 2026' on its header; the day is not stated (PDF created 2026-07-23; press release 2026-07-28). 15-page PDF.

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