European Teens AI Survey: 94% Use Chatbots, 8% of Parents Trust

Ninety-four percent of Austrian 11- to 17-year-olds use AI chatbots. Across Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands and Poland, only 8% of parents are confident that AI companies put teen safety first. Both come from 2026 European teens AI survey data, and together they describe a gap American and Latin American parents will recognize: kids are already inside the tool, and adults don’t trust the people who built it.

The more useful finding is quieter. Parents in the four-country survey guessed that 20% of teens use AI for companionship. Teens said 5%. Parents are worried about the wrong use, and that changes what to say at dinner tonight.

Key Takeaways

• Use is near-universal. Saferinternet.at found 94% of Austrian 11–17-year-olds use AI chatbots; ChatGPT alone reaches 90%.
• Trust in AI companies is very low. Only 8% of parents and 27% of teens in Common Sense Media’s four-country survey are confident AI companies prioritize teen safety.
• Parents misread how teens use AI. They overestimate companionship fourfold (20% guessed, 5% actual) and underestimate plain information searching (39% guessed, 56% actual).
• Teens worry about their own effort. 27% say AI makes them less motivated to try things on their own, and 78% say they need to learn to think critically without it.
• Spain is the outlier. Spanish teens are the most optimistic about AI’s long-term impact and also the most anxious about what it means for their jobs (48%).

What the Two 2026 European Surveys Measured

The two studies are a national youth survey from Austria and a four-country family survey by an American nonprofit. They asked different questions of different ages, so read them side by side, not merged.

The Austrian study, KI-Chatbots als Alltagsbegleiter für Jugendliche (“AI chatbots as everyday companions for young people”), was released by Saferinternet.at on February 9, 2026, ahead of Safer Internet Day. Saferinternet.at is Austria’s branch of the EU-funded Safer Internet network. The Institut für Jugendkulturforschung surveyed 500 young people aged 11 to 17 online in October and November 2025, representative by age, gender and education, plus two focus groups. The EU’s Better Internet for Kids portal summarizes it in English.

Its headline frames chatbots as Werkzeug, Ratgeber, Bezugsperson: tool, adviser and “Bezugsperson.” That last German word is usually translated as attachment figure or trusted person, the kind of adult a child goes to first. It is a strong word to use about software.

The second study, What Kids and Families Think About AI Across the EU, was published May 11, 2026 by Common Sense Media with the polling firm SocialSphere. YouGov interviewed 557 parents and 539 teens aged 12 to 17 online from April 2 to 8, 2026, in Denmark, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain. It repeats a survey Common Sense ran with American families earlier in the year, and was presented at a Copenhagen youth AI summit on May 12.

What the European Teens AI Survey Data Say About Use, Trust and Effort

A chatbot here means a large language model app such as ChatGPT, Gemini or Copilot: software that predicts a plausible next stretch of text from your prompt and the conversation so far. It has no built-in check against reality, which is why the “do you verify?” questions matter.

Austria: mostly homework, with a real emotional side

In Austria, 73% of teens use AI for schoolwork and homework, 47% to search and summarize information, and 34% for explanations. Girls lead boys on school use, 78% to 68%.

The emotional numbers are smaller but not small:

• 55% use chatbots often or occasionally for advice on hobbies, health or relationships.
• 31% use them to talk through worries or problems, and 26% to relieve stress or vent anger.
• 25% find it easier to talk about personal topics with a chatbot than with people.
• 23% use AI to rehearse hard conversations, such as asking a teacher about a grade or telling parents about a bad mark.

The study links this to the chatbots’ “affirming and agreeable” style, which can seem empathetic. That is partly a training outcome: models tuned on human ratings learn that agreeable answers score well. The partner helpline Rat auf Draht adds that chatbots can bridge a short crisis but can’t replace counseling, and sometimes give wrong information about counseling services.

Then trust. 52% rely on chatbots for correct information, and 40% rarely or never check. 28% believe what they type is confidential. And 56% worry AI could weaken their ability to think for themselves. As one focus-group teen put it: “You get kind of lazy when you can ask everything.”

Four countries: practical use, low trust, mixed feelings about effort

The Common Sense survey finds 38% of teens use AI daily or most days, compared with 23% of parents. Their main uses are information (56%), schoolwork (48%), images or video (27%) and writing (22%). Only 18% use it for personal advice and 5% for companionship.

On motivation, the picture is split. 27% say AI makes them less motivated to try on their own, 16% say it raises their motivation, 27% see no difference and 20% say it depends on the task. Only 4% say work made with AI feels completely their own, yet 75% say it matters that their schoolwork reflects their own thinking.

Trust in companies is the starkest number. 8% of parents are confident AI companies prioritize teen safety, and 60% are “not confident at all.” Teens: 27% confident, 54% not. In Denmark, parent confidence is 2%. 77% of parents want strong laws, and teens back rules that would limit them: 73% support safety testing before tools reach their age group, 68% support age verification.

Teens also separate tool from person. 72% say AI conversations are less meaningful than talking to people. Facing a hard problem, 46% try to solve it themselves first, 40% go to people, and 9% go to an AI first.

Spain: the “anxious optimist”

The report calls Spain “the anxious optimist.” Spanish teens are the most positive group about AI’s long-term impact (77%, per the press release). 82% are interested in AI tools for learning, and 75% of Spanish parents say AI will change life as much as the internet did. Yet 48% of Spanish teens worry about their economic future because of AI, nearly three times Denmark’s rate, and 36% think it will make finding work harder. They also check more: 42% verify AI information regularly, against 30% in Denmark.

How much weight these numbers can bear

Before you forward the screenshot:

• Small country samples. Each country has 128 to 147 teens. The ±4.2-point margin applies to the pooled sample; single-country figures are closer to ±9 points.
• Not “Europe.” Pooled results are an equal average of four countries, not a European estimate, as the report notes.
• Teens were reached through parents. YouGov recruited teens via their parents, which can nudge answers toward the socially acceptable.
• The publisher advocates. Common Sense Media campaigns for AI regulation and presented these data at a policy summit.
• Surveys show association, not cause. “AI makes me less motivated” is a perception, not a measured drop in effort.

Why the Two Surveys Seem to Disagree on Emotional Use

Austria says a quarter of teens find chatbots easier to confide in. Common Sense says 5% use AI for companionship. Both can be true, because the questions differ.

Austria asked whether teens use chatbots for something at all, even sometimes. Common Sense asked what they mainly use AI for and asked parents to guess. “Vented to ChatGPT after a bad day” and “uses AI for companionship” are different behaviors. The teens who matter most sit in between: homework all week, then one late night a question about something that hurts. We covered the US version in Pew’s finding that 64% of teens use chatbots and half of parents don’t know.

What parents guessed teens use AI for	Parents’ guess	What teens reported	Source
Companionship	20%	5%	Common Sense, 4 countries
Personal advice	33%	18%	Common Sense, 4 countries
Creating images or video	47%	27%	Common Sense, 4 countries
Searching for information	39%	56%	Common Sense, 4 countries
Talks through worries with AI	not asked	31%	Saferinternet.at, Austria
Easier to discuss personal topics with a chatbot	not asked	25%	Saferinternet.at, Austria

How Europe Compares With the US, and What the EU Wants to Change

The closest American benchmark is Pew Research Center’s survey of 1,458 US teens aged 13 to 17 and their parents, fielded September 25 to October 9, 2025. 64% of teens report using chatbots, while about half of parents think their teen does; 54% used them for schoolwork and 12% for emotional support or advice. Different ages and wording, so the comparison is directional: on both sides of the Atlantic, schoolwork dominates and emotional use is a real minority.

	Austria (Saferinternet.at)	Denmark, NL, Poland, Spain (Common Sense)	United States (Pew)
Ages	11–17	12–17	13–17
Fieldwork	Oct–Nov 2025	Apr 2026	Sep–Oct 2025
Teens surveyed	500	539	1,458 (with parents)
Headline use	94% use chatbots	38% use AI daily or most days	64% use chatbots
Schoolwork	73%	48% (a main use)	54%
Emotional	31% discuss worries	5% companionship, 18% advice	12% support or advice

Europe is also writing rules. On September 17, 2026, the European Commission proposed the EU KIDS Act. Per summaries by the law firms DLA Piper and Greenberg Traurig, AI companion providers would have to avoid features that simulate relationships “likely to create emotional dependencies”; using a minor’s past conversations in later chats would be off by default except where needed for the child’s safety; under-13s could use them only through parental control; self-declared age would not be enough; and fines could reach 6% of worldwide turnover. Summaries differ on which chatbots would be off by default for minors. It is a proposal that must still pass the EU legislative process. Details are in our explainer on the EU plan to switch off AI companions for minors by default.

For a family in Texas or Bogotá, “no memory by default” is often a setting you can choose today. Memory means the app stores facts from earlier chats and feeds them into later prompts, which is what makes a chatbot feel like it knows you.

What to Do at Home With These Findings

Ask what they use it for before you ask how long

The most actionable finding is the guessing gap. If you assume your teen is confiding in a bot, you’ll open with the wrong worry and they’ll tune out. Ask, “What did you use AI for this week?” and listen for the ordinary answers: a history summary, a math step, a photo edit. You earn the harder question by not leading with it.

Make checking a habit, not a lecture

In Austria, 40% of teens rarely or never verify AI answers. Pick one answer your teen got from a chatbot this week and check it together against a textbook, a .gov page or the original article. Once a week is enough. Fluent text and correct text are different things.

Turn off or review memory together

Open the chatbot’s settings with your teen and look at what it remembers. Clear what neither of you wants stored and decide together whether memory stays on. That copies the EU’s proposed default without waiting for a law, and opens a privacy talk that 28% of Austrian teens need.

Talk about effort in their words

27% of European teens already say AI makes them try less, and 78% say they need to learn to think without it. You don’t have to convince them. Ask which tasks they want to keep doing themselves, then help protect those. Our piece on what PISA 2025 found about AI use in Latin American classrooms adds school data.

What not to do

Don’t read your teen’s chat history behind their back, and don’t announce a ban over one scary headline. Most teens use AI as a tool and still go to people first. Covert monitoring can push the few who confide in bots further from the adults who could help.

What to Watch For Over the Next 3 Months

• Week 4: Your teen can name two or three things they use AI for without getting defensive, and you’ve checked at least two AI answers together.
• Month 2 red flags: They say a chatbot “understands them better” than people, they get upset when they can’t reach it, they hide it, or they pull back from friends. Any of these deserves a calm conversation, and a word with the school counselor or pediatrician if it persists.
• Month 3 self-check: Did your picture of their AI use come from them or from headlines? If headlines, start again with the first question.

Frequently Asked Questions

What did the European teens AI survey find?

Two 2026 surveys stand out. Saferinternet.at found 94% of Austrian 11–17-year-olds use AI chatbots, mostly for school. Common Sense Media’s survey in Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands and Poland found 38% of teens use AI daily or most days, mainly for information and schoolwork, and that only 8% of parents trust AI companies on teen safety.

Why are Spanish teens so optimistic about AI?

The survey doesn’t explain causes. Spanish teens are the most positive group about AI’s long-term impact and the most interested in AI learning tools, yet 48% worry about their economic future because of AI. With 128 Spanish teens surveyed, treat exact figures as approximate.

Is the EU banning AI chatbots for kids?

No. The EU KIDS Act, proposed September 17, 2026, is not law. Summaries say it would restrict companion features designed to create emotional dependency, turn off use of a minor’s past conversations by default, require real age checks, and allow under-13s only with parental control. It still has to pass the EU legislative process.

Should I worry if my teen says AI makes them lazy?

It’s a useful signal, not an emergency. In Austria, 56% of teens worry AI could weaken independent thinking, and 27% in the four-country survey say it lowers their motivation. Treat it as an opening: ask which tasks they want to keep doing on their own, and help them protect time for those.

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About the author

Ricky Flores is the founder of HiWave Makers and an electrical engineer with 15+ years of experience building consumer technology at Apple, Samsung, and Texas Instruments. He writes about how kids learn to build, think, and create in a tech-saturated world. Read more at hiwavemakers.com.

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Sources

1. Saferinternet.at / ÖIAT / ISPA. (2026, February 9). “Studie: Werkzeug, Ratgeber, Bezugsperson – 94 Prozent der Jugendlichen nutzen KI-Chatbots.” Saferinternet.at. https://www.saferinternet.at/presse-detail/studie-werkzeug-ratgeber-bezugsperson-94-prozent-der-jugendlichen-nutzen-ki-chatbots
2. Better Internet for Kids. (2026). “AI chatbots as everyday companions for young people.” European Commission, Better Internet for Kids portal. https://better-internet-for-kids.europa.eu/en/ai-chatbots-everyday-companions-young-people
3. Della Volpe, J., Arthur, C., Zimmermann, L., Mann, S., & Robb, M. B. (2026). “What Kids and Families Think About AI Across the EU.” Common Sense Media. https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/research/report/commonsensemedia_whatkidsandfamiliesthinkofaiineu_2026.pdf
4. Common Sense Media. (2026, May 11). “Leaders Gather for Inaugural Copenhagen Youth AI Summit as Common Sense Media Brings Youth AI Safety to Europe.” Common Sense Media. https://www.commonsensemedia.org/press-releases/leaders-gather-for-inaugural-copenhagen-youth-ai-summit-as-common-sense-media-brings-youth-ai-safety
5. Pew Research Center. (2026, February 24). “How Teens Use and View AI.” Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2026/02/24/how-teens-use-and-view-ai/
6. DLA Piper. (2026, September). “EU: Commission proposes a new KIDS Act to protect children online.” Privacy Matters. https://privacymatters.dlapiper.com/2026/09/eu-commission-proposes-a-new-kids-act-to-protect-children-online/
7. Greenberg Traurig. (2026, October 19). “EU KIDS Act: Proposed EU Rules for Online Platforms, Age Verification, and AI Chatbots.” GT Alert. https://www.gtlaw.com/ar/insights/2026/10/eu-kids-act-proposed-eu-rules-for-online-platforms-age-verification-and-ai-chatbots