NPR asked 7 high school students, 15-18yo, how they feel about AI. Some worrisome answers.
Transcript here - https://www.npr.org/transcripts/nx-s1-5863025 - and intro article and 4-minute audio here: https://www.npr.org/2026/07/14/nx-s1-5863025/teens-artificial-intelligence-ai-school
They did get quotes from some students who talked about AI dumbing students down and taking people's jobs.
But there were students who were more dependent on it, apparently. Two were brothers, ages 15 and 18. (Not easily sorted out in the transcript, which used the younger brother's first name but the older brother's last name after their intro statements, but their voices and speech patterns - one really overusing the word like - helped separate them.)
The younger one uses AI as a companion, calls it his friend, and said he has "very meaningful, intelligent discussions" with that AI. (The AI models they're using weren't identified.) Later he said, "I'm still going to try my best to have meaningful discussions around humans. It's just - will those humans want to have meaningful discussions with me?" Which suggests AI might be leaving him more isolated from other people.
His older brother is a student athlete who depends on AI to tell him what to eat, and when. And he also said this about using AI for schoolwork:
And this about whether he thinks AI will take jobs humans are doing:
Which is a really optimistic statement when both brothers are already depending on AI rather than humans at times - for friendship, for coaching, for doing homework.
In November it will be 4 years - only 4 years - since OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, arguably the person who's done the most harm ever to education, released ChatGPT and it was quickly adopted as a free cheating tool by students who didn't know enough to be aware of its errors. Silicon Valley aims to be disruptive. ChatGPT was destructive of education instead.
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Educate yourself.
Black and Hispanic teens are more likely than White teens to say they use chatbots overall, according to our survey.1
But these differences aren’t limited to overall use. How teens are using these tools – whether for schoolwork or getting news – often varies by race and ethnicity.
Schoolwork: About six-in-ten Black or Hispanic teens say they’ve used chatbots to get help with schoolwork. That drops to roughly half of White teens.
Summarizing or creating content: Black and Hispanic teens are more likely than their White peers to say they have turned to chatbots to summarize articles, books, or videos, or to create or edit images.
Getting emotional support or advice: While 21% of Black teens say they have done this, those shares drop to about one-in-ten for their Hispanic or White peers.
Casual conversations: Black teens are also more likely than White teens to say they’ve used chatbots for casual conversation (22% vs. 14%). (Hispanic teens don’t differ from either group.)
Getting news: About three-in-ten Black teens say they have gotten news in this way. This is higher than for both Hispanic and White teens.
Using chatbots for fun is the only place we see no statistical differences by race and ethnicity.
