Work, Study & Leisure in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

How are young people using AI?

The Youth AI Survey 2026 provides new insights into how young people are using artificial intelligence (AI), including what they use it for, how it affects them, and their expectations and aspirations for the future. This study is timely: although AI is still in its infancy many young people are actively integrating it into daily lives; meanwhile others do not use AI due to reasons ranging from technological and infrastructural barriers, to ethics and personal choice.

The Youth AI Survey was conducted from 4-22 March 2026 and collected 1864 responses from young people across more than 65 countries. The top eleven countries represented were Angola, Kenya, India, Nepal, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, the United Kingdom, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The survey was designed, administered, and analysed by researchers from Makerere University, Restless Development, and the University of Cambridge.

This survey found that AI is widely and frequently used among respondents from lower-income countries, who often expressed optimism about its potential. At the same time, many young people identified substantial barriers to accessing this powerful tool. One respondent (female student, aged 26, urban Zimbabwe) adds:

People need to be taught the dangers of relying more on AI. People become lazy and it can take away the humanity, peace and families will be less connected.

As AI continues to develop and spread – shaped by emerging policies, commercial incentives, developers’ ambitions, and, ideally, societal needs – young people’s AI use will continue to shift. Through highlighting young people’s uses, needs, concerns, and aspirations regarding AI, we hope that this survey will help to inform policies and technology development.

Key Findings:

For context, respondents were mainly urban dwellers and most had completed high school or university. The survey found that:

• AI usage is widespread: roughly two thirds use AI daily, one fifth use AI weekly, and a small minority never knowingly use AI;
• comparing countries, AI is widely used in Tanzania and Kenya for multiple purposes, and is used less in India and Angola;
• the primary uses of AI are learning skills and for academic work, meanwhile using AI for income generation is uncommon; learning skills was the most common use of AI across countries, and in rural and urban areas;
• AI’s reported impact on finding employment and income generation is biggest in India and Tanzania, and smallest in the UK;
• young women use AI more than young men for social media and healthcare information; for other purposes young men use AI more;
• young men report higher levels of self-assessed AI expertise than young women do;
• the cost of internet access is a barrier to AI use in nearly all countries; in the UK personal ethics are a common reason for not using AI;
• and daily AI users are the most concerned about its risks, as frequent usage exposes them to risks and warnings that they would not otherwise know of; prominent concerns include data ownership, the power of AI companies, misinformation, and the environmental impact.

(opens in a new tab)

Key Recommendations:

Governments should define context-specific programming, regulations and laws for responsible, environmentally safe and inclusive AI. These should address young people’s needs, including:

• digital literacy programmes covering AI fact checking and the critical use of AI;
• data protection, online security and the creation of opportunities for all genders;
• ensuring affordable and accessible hardware and data by:
  • creating free-access digital spaces and public Wi-Fi, including for marginalised communities;
  • stipulating that data costs are pegged to the local economy (see ITU and Alliance for Affordable Internet guidance);
• and support further research into how young people use AI, to inform future policies and AI developments.

IT and ICT companies should:

• implement programmes, policies and laws to proactively prevent social, employment and environmental harms;
• research and develop ethical AI tools to tackle the lack of jobs for young people;
• adjust internet and AI charges to enable access for people on low incomes;
• and prioritise the use of local languages and culture in AI and digital spaces to ensure cultural diversity, protect heritage and reduce exclusion.

Access the Youth AI Survey 2026 in more languages

Share