요약
The share of parents using artificial intelligence for work or personal reasons rose from 54% in 2025 to 72% in 2026. But that number jumped to 84% in families earning $150,000 or more. Those parents were also more likely than lower-income parents to encourag…
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Higher-Income Parents More Likely to Use AI, Encourage Teens to Do the SameFor Release
Thursday
November 12, 2026
Artificial intelligence (AI) use increased the most among higher-income parents, with these parents also the most likely to encourage their children to use it for school or homework, according to a new RAND report.
Overall, the share of parents using AI for work or personal reasons rose from 54% in 2025 to 72% in 2026. But that number jumped to 84% in families earning $150,000 or more, compared to 63% in families earning less than $50,000.
Higher-income parents were also more likely to encourage AI use for schoolwork: 67% versus 45% of lower-income parents. Parents who frequently used AI themselves were also more likely to encourage their teens to use it wherever school rules permitted, although most parents favored more limited uses, such as brainstorming or checking work.
“Parents have as vital a role as schools in helping teens navigate AI,” said Heather L. Schwartz, lead author of the report and vice president of RAND's Education, Employment, and Infrastructure division. “It's not simply a question of whether students should use AI, but how they use it. Teens need guidance on when AI can support learning and when it risks doing the thinking for them.”
Teens' AI habits appeared to reflect those of their parents, according to the report. Among teens whose parents frequently used AI, 63% reported using it for homework in at least some classes, compared with 40% whose parents never used AI.
An income-based difference also emerged in teens' reported AI use. In spring 2026, 57% of teens in families earning $150,000 or more reported using AI for homework, compared with 43% in families earning less than $50,000. A year earlier, both groups reported roughly the same rate: 39%, according to the report.
Researchers also found that teens' perceptions of parental encouragement were strongly associated with their AI use. Among 533 teens whose parents also responded to the survey, 81% who perceived parental encouragement used AI for homework, compared with 38% who perceived discouragement. Those perceptions were more strongly associated with AI use than nearly every other factor examined, including family income, except age.
The findings underscore the critical role parents play, alongside schools, in guiding teens' AI use. Researchers recommend that schools help parents and students distinguish between AI that supports learning and AI that does the thinking for students. They caution against unrestricted AI use during students' initial attempts at schoolwork, which research suggests can undermine learning. Whether greater AI use among higher-income teens will ultimately widen or narrow existing achievement gaps remains uncertain.
The report, “Higher-Income Parents Use AI More and Encourage Their Children to Do the Same,” was co-authored by Melissa Diliberti and draws on 2025 and 2026 surveys through the RAND American Parents Panel and American Youth Panel, involving approximately 1,000 parents and 1,800 teens ages 12 to 18. The research was sponsored by the Gates Foundation and conducted in RAND's EEI division.
About RAND Education, Employment, and Infrastructure
RAND Education, Employment, and Infrastructure is a division of RAND that aims to improve educational opportunity, economic prosperity, and civic life for all.
