Young People Say AI Is Eroding Trust Online

Young people say AI Is Eroding Trust in what they see online, according to new research from New Zealand that gives one of the clearest snapshots yet of how the generation living closest to artificial intelligence actually feels about it. The report, published this month by the youth research program Te Rourou with the Brainbox Institute and youth-focused organisations, draws on discussions with twenty-eight rangatahi, mostly aged sixteen to twenty-four, about what digital inclusion means in the age of AI.

The findings carry a paradox. Being connected is no longer optional for young people: internet access underpins education, employment, banking, access to services, and personal interests, while keeping them connected with whānau, friends, and communities. Yet the same online world they depend on feels increasingly untrustworthy, and generative AI is making it harder for many of them to judge what is real.

Essential access, shrinking trust

The research identifies six themes shaping young people's digital lives: cost, physical access, trust, safety, skills, and empowerment. Participants described reliable connection as a basic utility, not a luxury. But the report also found that device and data costs, poor connectivity, and even power outages still disrupt access, problems that weigh most heavily on those already facing disadvantage.

On trust, the picture was blunt. Young people described an online environment that is increasingly difficult to navigate with confidence, citing bullying, scams, harmful content, and the effects of social media on wellbeing as concerns, while misinformation and generative AI were seen as making it harder to judge whether online material is genuine. The skepticism is not abstract: participants said scams and misinformation had already made them doubtful about online interactions, and generative AI had deepened doubts about what counts as authentic. The anxiety mirrors what American teens are expressing at the ballot box, where a new survey found most Gen Z voters say posts shaped their vote while fearing AI deepfakes, as GenZ NewZ reported this week.

The skeptics managing their own risk

One of the report's most interesting findings is also the one that cuts against the usual narrative. The researchers said the study challenged assumptions that young people are passive users of technology: many participants are already developing their own ways to manage risks, drawing on friends, whānau, training, and personal experience. In other words, the generation often portrayed as the most vulnerable to online manipulation is actively building its own defenses.

Nor is the verdict on AI entirely negative. Some participants described useful applications, including help with job applications and administrative tasks, suggesting the wariness is specific rather than blanket. "Rangatahi gave us a remarkably nuanced picture of their digital lives," said Dr Ellen Strickland, the lead researcher at Brainbox Institute. "They understand that being online brings enormous benefits, while also recognising the very real challenges around access, safety, wellbeing and trust." The tension between reliance and skepticism shows up in other recent data too: Canadian research found one in three young people uses AI for mental-health support, a story covered by GenZ NewZ, while states in the US are taking the makers of AI chatbots to court over child safety, as reported here.

What stood out to Strickland was how solutions-focused the young people were: they are learning, adapting their behaviour, and finding ways to navigate a digital environment that is constantly changing, rather than waiting for adults to fix it for them. Young People Say AI Is Eroding Trust, but the report suggests they are not asking to log off. They are asking for the online world to be worth trusting.

Let young people build the rules

The report sets out three priorities: treat reliable, affordable connection as essential infrastructure; strengthen safety and trust in digital environments; and give rangatahi a direct role in shaping digital policy and practice. The last point drew the strongest language. "We shouldn't just be designing a digital future for rangatahi. We need to build it with them," said Ezekiel Raui, head of Te Rourou at the One Aotearoa Foundation. "Rangatahi are experts in their own experiences, and this research shows they have ideas, capability, and a real appetite to contribute."

Participants agreed, and they were pointed about it. One told the researchers there is not a lot in the technology world that is youth-led; another said they want to see more young people authentically included in decision-making spaces. The message was consistent: the generation experiencing the consequences of AI-era design wants a seat at the drafting table, not just a safety lecture.

For policymakers, the access finding may be the sleeper detail. When a young person loses connectivity, they are not simply losing entertainment, Raui argued: they can lose access to education, employment, support, and the people around them. Treating affordable connection as essential, the way other countries treat clean water or electricity, reframes the entire debate from a technology question into an equity one. And on trust, the young skeptics of Aotearoa are offering a warning the rest of the world should probably hear: they can tell when the internet is bluffing, and they are keeping score.