May 13, 2026 | In the News

Girls See Talking AI Agents as Friends

Sarah Keating, vice president of Girl and Volunteer Experience for Girl Scouts of the USA, joins the Forbes Women online newscast to discuss new findings about girls and AI use from a report released by the Girl Scouts of the USA. The report is based on a nationwide custom survey conducted by Wakefield Research of girls ages 5 to 13, which found that the majority (65%) who use voice-assisted AI agents like Siri and Alexa see these tools as friends. 

Keating said that finding may be surprising to parents and caregivers, as their perception of their children’s amount of AI use was much smaller than the reality.  Around half (51%) of girls from age 11 to 13 said they have turned to AI for help when they felt sad, anxious, or lonely, while 54% of parents are uncomfortable with AI providing this type of mental health guidance to their children.