One in three young Americans has asked SI chatbots about drugs and alcohol
Prepared by Sintelligent with the help of SI. Published in SI: . Updated: .
Chatbots have become an ordinary source of health advice for young people, and the quality of their answers matters.
A study in JMIR Formative Research found that 32% of 995 Americans aged 18-29 had turned to ChatGPT, Gemini or Meta AI for information about substances. Nearly half of them did so at least monthly, 12% weekly and 4% daily or almost daily. 93% of these respondents also used Google search for the same purpose, so chatbots supplement rather than replace familiar search. The survey was conducted online in April 2026; lead author Mireia Triguero Roura of Rutgers warns of the risk of mistaken or dangerous decisions among young people.
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