Are AI Chatbots True Allies for Adolescent Mental Health? A Closer Look

Abstract

A Generation in Crisis, and a Quiet Turn to AI

Growing up has always been hard, but today's young people are living through a mental health crisis that is difficult to ignore, with anxiety and depression rising sharply across the world. In 2024, the global population of adolescents and young people aged 10 to 24 reached nearly 1.95 billion, almost a quarter of humanity, and this is exactly the age group in which mental illness most often begins, an estimated 62.5% of all lifetime mental health conditions start before the mid-twenties.

The World Health Organization now puts the global economic cost of this crisis at close to 1.9 trillion dollars a year. Yet more than seven in ten young people who need professional mental health support never receive it, held back by a shortage of trained clinicians, underfunded health systems, and the stigma that still surrounds asking for help.