According to new data from the Social Warning Observatory, out of 20 thousand students between 11 and 18 years old, AI is now almost at the level of parents as a point of reference in daily doubts (57% against 58.6%). The comparison with Telefono Azzurro, Save the Children, Pew and Common Sense Media.
It often happens among the students: a boy says he prefers ChatGPT to an adult, because the AI doesn’t judge if you get the question wrong. Gregorio Ceccone, digital pedagogist, who coordinates, tells it the Scientific Observatory on Digital Education by Social Warning.
The numbers from the latest survey, about 20 thousand students between 11 and 18 years old (school year 2025/2026), they say it’s not an anecdote. When they have a doubt, the 90.1% search on the Internet. Then come the parents, with 58.6%. And immediately behind, at 57%, artificial intelligence: in front of friends (50.3%), teachers (9%) and books (2.2%).
The phone arrives first
42.5% received their first smartphone before the age of 10. 37.9% declare more than five hours a day in front of screens and the 71.5% he takes it to bed at night. The DDL 1136, which wants to set the minimum age at 15 to open a social account, arrives when the game has already started.
What is AI for? Above all looking for information (70.9%) and doing homework (55.5%). But one in three (33.2%) asks her for personal adviceand 14% just chat about it.
What they don’t say at home
Only 18.8% often talk to their parents about what they do online, while almost 45% rarely or never do so. 47.9% have explicit rules at home, 62.1% have never addressed the topic at school. A chatbot responds immediately and doesn’t raise an eyebrow. According to Ceccone, the problem is not technology: at school and at home the error has become something to hide, while it should be overcome together.
What other research says
The picture holds up even outside of a single study, with very different figures. According to Telefono Azzurro and Ipsos Doxa, 35% of Italian 12-18 year olds put chatbots among the most frequent online activities, and around 58% trust them a lot. Save the Children, with CSA Research, talks about 92.5% of teenagers using AI tools and 41.8% who asked for help in moments of sadness, anxiety or loneliness.
In the US Pew (February 2026) it accounts for 64% of thirteen-seventeen year olds with at least one use of chatbot, 28% every day, 12% for emotional support. Common Sense Media adds a half-reassuring figure: 80% of users spend more time with friends than with virtual companions, but a third of those interviewed talked about serious things to an AI instead of a person.
Comparisons to be taken with caution: age, questions and definition of AI change, and Social Warning data are self-declared, collected in association meetings. However, the trend is robust and definitely worrying.
More rules, not fewer
There is a piece of data that shifts the angle: the 54.8% some kids say they want more rules and more guidance. It is not a generation that rejects limits, observes the president of Social Warning, Davide Dal Maso. Telefono Azzurro, meanwhile, reports that 40% report a decline in critical thinking among the risks.
The match is scheduled for National Digital Citizenship Day: October 22nd on Twitch, October 24th in Venice with an in-person event.
