AI & YOUTH  | Education Week |
 Image: Education Week (edweek.org). What the author argues: Kayla Anderson, vice president of research and evaluation at the JED Foundation, a youth mental-health nonprofit, argues that how students use AI matters more than whether they use it, after her report linked AI companionship to worse mental health. Key points: - Students using AI for companionship or emotional help more often reported anxiety, depression, loneliness and suicidal thoughts or attempts, per a survey of 5,560 students at 21 US schools.
- Anderson says more than half reach for AI when sad, stressed or lonely, yet only a small share describe that as getting help.
- She calls the findings "very early research" and wonders whether students using AI this way were already vulnerable, or what the AI might be replacing.
- She sees school staff as potential trusted adults and wants schools to teach AI literacy, while also calling for industry safeguards so these tools are safe for young people.
| Why this matters: The young people confiding in AI tend to report more anxiety, depression and loneliness, so what a client uses AI for can say more than whether they use it at all. Anderson's take also fits a wider shift away from blanket yes-or-no debates toward judging AI by the role it plays in a young person's life. |
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