Youth Self-Report vs Parental Estimates of AI Use (2026)

This chart illustrates a significant 'perception gap' between how teenagers aged 12 to 17 actually use artificial intelligence (AI) and how their parents perceive this usage across the European Union, based on a 2026 Common Sense Media report. The data reveal that, while searching for information or facts is the most common actual use among young people (56%), parents significantly underestimate this functional application, with only 39% identifying it as a primary activity. A significant trend emerges: parents overestimating the use of 'creative' and 'social' AI. They are 20 percentage points more likely to believe their children use AI to create images or videos (47% vs 27%) and four times more likely to believe their children use AI for companionship (20% vs 5%). Similarly, parents overestimate the use of AI to help with schoolwork by 11 percentage points (59% vs 48%).