Our 2026 UK Future Report

Source: Google Date: 2026-06-10 URL: https://blog.google/company-news/inside-google/around-the-globe/google-europe/united-kingdom/future-report-uk-teen-research/

Summary

Google published its 2026 UK Future Report, produced with youth consultancy Livity from research across 6,000 UK teenagers. The headline findings: 74% of UK teens use AI multiple times a week for learning or creative work, and 76% regularly evaluate the trustworthiness of information they encounter online. The report frames teens as active participants in shaping AI governance rather than passive consumers, and includes a guest series from external experts on digital policy, parental support, and regulatory frameworks.

Implications

• The “digital natives are naive about AI” assumption is not holding up. 76% critically evaluating information trustworthiness suggests a more discerning cohort than policy debates often assume, which is relevant for calibrating AI literacy programme design and for regulatory arguments that emphasise user vulnerability.
• Overlaps with the safeguarding signal from the same week. Together, the two Google UK pieces form a coordinated position: teens are sophisticated, engaged users who need scaffolded support rather than exclusion — a framing that serves Google’s regulatory interest in avoiding hard age-gates or bans.
• Feeds: voices/power dynamics (teens as AI governance stakeholders), agent safety/governance (youth digital literacy as policy input).