New Survey Reveals Most Americans Believe AI is Bad for Kids and Teens

Washington, D.C. – December 2, 2025 – As federal and state policymakers weigh Artificial Intelligence (AI) regulations and Congress considers a federal moratorium on state regulations, a new national survey from the Institute for Families and Technology (IFT) reveals that Americans are skeptical of AI use among kids, with many saying that inappropriate AI chatbot interactions with kids are widespread problems—and few trust tech companies to prioritize children’s safety.

According to the survey of 800 registered voters nationally conducted by GQR and American Viewpoint from October 22-27, 2025, on behalf of the new nonprofit research and advocacy organization IFT, key findings include:

• Parents are concerned about keeping their children safe online: only 16% of parents feel certain they can keep their kids safe online, while nearly half of parents (49%) are worried they can’t keep their children safe online.
• Most parents say AI is bad for children and teens: 6 in 10 (61%) view AI as bad for kids, and only 20% say it is good for children and teens.
• Trust in tech companies is extremely low: only 1 in 10 Americans give tech companies a score of 8 or above on a 0 to 10 scale, where 10 means they completely trust the tech companies that create apps, websites, and content that kids use to prioritize child safety, and 0 means they do not trust the companies at all to do this. Three-quarters gave responses of 0 to 5.
• Many say inappropriate AI chatbot interactions with kids are widespread problems: 45% of parents say kids getting inappropriate romantic or sexual responses from AI chatbots is a widespread problem; 42% of parents say the same of AI chatbots not reporting troubling behavior from kids, including talk of suicide; and 42% of parents say kids developing intense emotional bonds with AI chatbots is widespread or happening here and there. Only 5% or fewer parents say each of these interactions are only rarely or not at all problems.
• There are few partisan differences in opinions on these questions. Democrats are more likely than Republicans to think they can keep their kids safe online, but partisans feel similarly about the risks of AI for kids and share the same lack of trust in companies to prioritize child safety.

Support for accountability: The survey found strong support for changing Section 230 to allow social media companies to be held legally accountable for prohibited or illegal content on their platforms. Nearly 3 in 4 voters (73%), including 81% of Democrats and 71% of Republicans, support holding social media companies accountable for various situations where users may be harmed by content or exposed to illegal or prohibited content. Eight in 10 support holding social media companies accountable when the harm involves kids under age 13 or allowing children and predators to interact.

“The results are clear: parents and voters don’t want the federal government siding with large tech companies over families and children,” said John Cusey, Executive Director of the Institute for Families and Technology (IFT). “Americans overwhelmingly believe AI is creating serious risks for young children and teens, and they don’t want another big giveaway to these companies before there are real protections in place for our nation’s most vulnerable. It’s simple – child protection before federal preemption.”

“Keeping kids safe online is one of those rare issues where there is bipartisan support among voters, and this survey shows that Democrats and Republicans are united in their concerns about kids and AI, as well as their distrust of tech companies. Parents are worried, and most realize that tech companies aren’t going to help them, so they overwhelmingly support changes in regulations to make large tech companies accountable for harm to kids,” said Natalie Jackson, Vice President of GQR.

Survey methodology: GQR and American Viewpoint conducted a 20-minute mixed-mode text-to-web and online survey among 800 registered voters in theUnited States from October 22-27, 2025. The survey used voter file sample to reach text-to-web respondents and contacted online respondents from a panel sample of United States residents, who were then matched to the voter file to verify their eligibility. There are 332 parents of children under age 18, 296parents of children between ages 5 and 18, and 239 parents of children between ages 11 and 18. If this entire survey was based on a probability sample, the margin of error would be +/- 4.5 percentage points for the full sample and +/-7 percentage points for the parents subsample.

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About the Institute for Families and Technology (IFT)

The Institute for Families andTechnology (IFT) is a Washington, DC-based nonprofit research and advocacy organization dedicated to supporting the movement to prioritize children's safety, health, development, and overall wellbeing in the design and use of digital technology.