The AI Tools Teenagers Actually Use: A Parent's Field Guide

Quick answer

Teenagers use AI in five broad categories: general chatbots for homework and writing, image and video generators for creative projects, study apps with AI features built in, AI tools embedded inside apps they already use, and companion apps designed for conversation and connection. The first four are mostly what they sound like - useful, low-risk with normal supervision. The fifth, companion apps, deserves real caution: Australia's eSafety Commissioner found more than 100 such apps in use by early 2025, some engaging children for hours daily with no meaningful age checks, and conversations crossing into sex and self-harm. This guide maps what each category actually does, so you can tell a homework helper from something that needs a different conversation entirely.

The five categories, at a glance

General chatbots: the homework and writing workhorse

This is the category most parents already know: ChatGPT and similar tools, used for explaining concepts, drafting, summarising and quizzing. An Elevate Education survey found roughly three-quarters of Australian high-schoolers use AI at least a few times a week, almost a quarter daily, with a general chatbot the most common choice. Used well, this is the least risky category in the whole guide - the main thing to watch is whether the final submitted work is still your child's own, which is covered in detail in ChatGPT explained for parents and AI homework help: what to allow and what to watch. It is also the category most directly tied to the broader case for building real capability, set out in AI education for teenagers in Australia.

Image and video generators: creative tools with one hard rule

Teenagers use these for design projects, editing photos, generating art for assignments or just for fun. Most of the risk here sits in the use, not the tool itself, and there is one rule worth holding as non-negotiable in every household: no generating fake images of real people, ever, including as a joke. That single boundary heads off the sharpest harms in this category before they start.

Study apps and AI embedded in everyday tools

Many revision and study apps now bundle AI features - generated flashcards, auto-summaries, practice quizzes. These are usually fine, but check whether the AI features can be switched off separately, since a study app with AI baked into every screen can quietly become a general chatbot in disguise. The same caution applies to AI now shipping inside messaging and social apps your teenager already uses: a feature can arrive in an update without either of you deciding to add a new tool, so it is worth re-checking settings whenever a major app update lands.

Companion apps: the category that needs a different conversation

Companion apps are built for open-ended conversation, personas and ongoing relationship-style interaction, not for finishing a task. That difference in purpose is the whole risk. Australia's eSafety Commissioner reported more than 100 AI companion apps in use by early 2025, some used by children for hours a day, with the companion apps it examined showing no meaningful age checks and some conversations crossing into sex and self-harm. The regulator subsequently issued notices to several of these services under the Online Safety Act.

The practical advice from eSafety is calm and specific: talk about these interactions without judgement, name the common triggers such as loneliness and boredom, use parental controls and agreed boundaries, and actively encourage offline alternatives - hobbies, exercise, real social contact. This category sits outside the normal homework-help conversation entirely, and treating it the same way as a study chatbot underestimates the risk.

How to field-guide your own household

1. Ask your teenager to walk you through their own AI apps, sorted into these five categories, together and without judgement.
2. Flag anything in the companion category immediately for the loneliness-and-boredom conversation, not a punishment conversation.
3. Re-check study and messaging apps after major updates, since AI features often arrive without anyone opting in.
4. Run the fuller safe AI tools checklist on anything new before it becomes a daily habit.
5. Revisit the map each term. New categories of tool appear regularly, and the ones your teenager uses most will shift with the school calendar.

Common mistakes parents make

• Treating all AI apps as one risk level, when a homework chatbot and a companion app are not remotely comparable.
• Assuming app store ratings capture the risk, when they measure content, not data practices or engagement design.
• Missing AI features bundled into apps already on the phone, because no new download ever prompted a conversation.
• Reacting to companion apps with anger rather than curiosity, which tends to push the use further out of sight.

The recommendation: sit down with your teenager this week and sort their actual apps into these five categories together. Give the first four normal supervision and periodic check-ins. Give companion apps a dedicated, judgement-free conversation about why they are appealing and what real alternatives look like. The category, not the app name, is what should decide how closely you pay attention - and this maps directly onto the fuller safety picture in is AI safe for teenagers in Australia?