New Delhi: More than a third of young Australians aged 10 to 17 years are now using generative Artificial Intelligence tools as a source of news, instead of dedicated TV channels, websites and apps.
This has been revealed in a new report on News and Young Australians in 2026, in collaboration with Western Sydney University, Queensland University of Technology and the University of Canberra.
A total of 1,027 young people aged 10-17 were surveyed as part of a longitudinal study that began in 2017. It found 9 per cent of respondents use AI tools or summaries to get news “yesterday.” The report’s authors say that the findings are significant given how rapidly the technology has been adopted. Previously, 15 per cent of people were turning to news websites and apps directly.
Social media remains the second most preferred source of news for young people overall, with 60 per cent saying they use it to find news or encounter it while using a platform actively. YouTube is the most-used platform for news, reaching 59 per cent of young people, followed by TikTok (40 per cent) and Instagram (39 per cent).
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Declining trust in news
The report raises concerns about whether young Australians are being equipped to critically evaluate the news and information they consume through these emerging platforms. Only 47 per cent of young people feel confident they can distinguish fact from fiction online, and few take active steps to verify what they see. Just 31 per cent say they discuss a story with someone they trust when unsure if it’s true, and only 19 per cent check who posted or created a story.
Lead author Professor Tanya Notley, from Western Sydney University’s School of Arts and Institute for Culture and Society, said the findings point to an urgent need for stronger news media literacy education in schools.
“Young people who receive more news media literacy lessons in school demonstrate greater digital media knowledge, but there is still a disconnect between what young people know and how they actually behave,” Professor Notley said. “News media literacy education needs to support young people to move beyond ‘how it works’ to ‘how to act’.”
The report also shows engagement with news has fallen sharply since the previous survey in 2023. The proportion of young people who follow up on news stories they hear about dropped from 70 per cent to 59 per cent, while those who follow social media accounts specifically for news fell from 41 per cent to 29 per cent.
Family remains the most trusted news source, cited by 56 per cent of children aged 10-12 and 50 per cent of teens aged 13-17, though teens increasingly turn to social media over teachers.
Report co-author Dr Simon Chambers, from the MARCS Institute at Western Sydney University, said three-quarters of young Australians believe news organisations have “no idea” what their lives are like.
“Young Australians want news that speaks to their experiences and the issues they care about. When they feel overlooked or misunderstood, trust in news inevitably declines,” Dr Chambers said.
The 2026 survey was funded by ABC Education and Western Sydney University.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)