# [The Rithm Project](https://therithmproject.substack.com/)

Thinking out loud about what it means to be human—together—in an AI age.

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# Nine Portraits of the first AI Generation

### What 2,400 young people told us about AI, relationships, and how each shapes the other

Mar 26, 2026

We launched The Rithm Project in 2024 because we had a gut feeling about what was coming.

We were hearing from young people how disconnected they felt, and watching a powerful new AI technology take shape — one that promised to interact with us in deeper, more “empathetic” ways than any before. These two realities seemed headed for each other, and so we took to any microphone we could to say: _pay attention here. It’s about to get complicated._

Two years later, that almost seems quaint. You can’t open a browser without headlines about AI transforming relationships. But the public narrative swings between panic and hype — rarely grounded in lived experience.

So we set out to close that gap. We went directly to young people to understand:

**Are your relationships shaping how you use AI — and is AI reshaping your relationships?**

This winter, with support from the [Walton Family Foundation](https://www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/), we partnered with YouGov to survey 2,400 young people ages 13–24. The goal was to understand why young people are turning to — or not turning to — AI, and whether their existing human connections shape those choices.

What they shared with us challenged our assumptions and painted a far more complicated picture than the headlines often suggest.

#### **Some of the biggest lessons we are left thinking about:**

1. We’re likely overestimating the number of young people in relationships with personified AI characters (15%), while underestimating the people whose relationships are already being reshaped by AI (45%).
2. When the AI use turns personal and intimate, it becomes nearly 5x more likely to begin substituting human relationships.
3. The strongest protection against high-risk AI use isn’t more human relationships — it’s specifically relationships where young people feel seen, safe, and like they matter.
4. Youth from low-income households face a compounding gap: they’re 3x less likely to engage with AI and report greater vulnerability across measures of connection and well-being.
5. There are meaningful bright spots to grow: 53% of young people in our study report setting boundaries with AI, grounding their use in values, or using AI alongside — not instead of — human support.
6. Most young people are navigating all of this alone. 61% say parents rarely or never talk to them about AI, and 53% say the same about teachers. When adults do engage, conversations are mostly about academics and rarely touch relational dimensions of AI use.

These findings only scratch the surface. Across the study, **nine distinct portraits of young people emerged**— each defined not just by how they use AI, but by the human relationships around them and the upsides and risks they experience as they turn to this new technology.

#### **If this research reveals one overarching truth, it’s this: we need a fundamentally different kind of conversation about AI.**

One that starts with **curiosity** about what young people are actually experiencing, handles what we learn with **precision** and nuance, and that gets proactive about the **guardrails** about places where things can go wrong.

Our hope is that this report offers a launching pad into that new conversation.

#### **Join in.**

- Share the report with your circles and on your socials — and tell us what surprised you.
- Bring it to your teams and communities. Visit the [research page](http://www.therithmproject.org/research) for a facilitator’s guide and tools to help.
- [Request a set of “Portrait Cards”](https://therithmproject.notion.site/32dbec13158680178af6e1538e79d3c5) to use in your reflection and conversations (a limited run will be printed in April).
- Join our Launch Party on Friday, April 10 ( [click here to register](https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/aDPWwWk4QzO1bNUKHWK9zg)) — a public celebration where we’ll share this research and open up the “so what, now what?” with all of you.