A parent’s guide to children and AI
Children meet AI in homework apps, games, chatbots and photo filters. Here’s how to talk about it, set sensible limits and spot when something isn’t right.
Video transcript
Your child has probably met AI already, in a homework app, a game or a photo filter. Here’s how to help them use it well, and safely.
Children meet AI in homework help, chatbots inside apps and games, and filters that change their photos. Some apps even offer an AI friend to chat to.
Many AI apps have a minimum age, often thirteen and sometimes eighteen. So check the app’s terms before your child signs up.
Then talk about what AI is. It isn’t a person. It can be wrong while sounding sure. And however friendly it seems, it doesn’t really care about them.
Some apps offer an AI companion that’s always there and rarely disagrees. Keep an eye on these, and on how your child talks about them.
For homework, AI should explain, not do. Let it give hints and quiz them, and check the school’s rules on AI.
Watch for signs, such as secrecy about an app, being upset after time online, or preferring an AI friend to real ones. Parental controls help, but keep talking too.
And make sure your child knows they can always talk to you, or to Childline, free and in confidence, on oh eight hundred, one one one one.
Read the full guide below for a prompt to explain AI to your child, and the settings worth checking.
In 30 seconds
- Many AI apps have a minimum age, often 13 and sometimes 18, so check the app’s terms.
- Explain that AI isn’t a person: it can be wrong, and it doesn’t really care.
- Use Jargon busterParental controls: Settings on a device, app or broadband connection that let parents limit what children can see, download, buy or do, and for how long., keep talking, and make sure your child knows about Childline: 0800 1111.
Your child asks a chatbot for help with algebra, then asks it whether their friends really like them. Both are normal questions. The second is why it’s worth talking about AI at home, early and often, just as you would about anything else they do online.
Where children meet AI
- Homework helpChatbots and study apps that can explain and quiz, or just hand over the answers.
- Chatbots in apps and gamesSome social, messaging and gaming apps include AI characters or assistants that children can chat to.
- Filters and photo toolsFilters that change faces, ages or backgrounds, and apps that make a picture from a few words.
- AI companionsApps that offer an AI friend or partner, designed to feel personal. Some are meant only for adults.
Many AI apps set a minimum age in their terms, often 13 and sometimes 18, and some ask for a parent’s permission for teenagers. Before your child signs up, check the app’s terms and its age rating in the app store.
Talk about what AI is
Children can easily treat a chatbot like a person, especially one with a name, a friendly voice and a good memory. In your own words, and more than once, get three ideas across.
Three things to explain
- It isn’t a personIt’s a computer program that predicts words. It can sound warm, but it has no feelings and doesn’t know them like a friend does.
- It can be wrongIt can make things up and sound completely sure, called a Jargon busterHallucination: When AI states something false as if it were true, because it predicts plausible words rather than checking facts.. Check anything important with a book, a teacher or you.
- It doesn’t really careHowever kind it sounds, it can’t look out for them. Worries and big feelings need a person they trust.
Explain what an AI chatbot is to my [nine]-year-old in four short sentences they’ll understand. Include that it isn’t a person, that it can be wrong, and that they should talk to a grown-up they trust about worries. Then give me three relaxed questions I could ask to find out how they use AI.
Try it yourself 10 minutes
- Ask your child to show you an app they use that has AI in it. Let them be the expert.
- Together, ask it about something your child knows well, and look for anything wrong.
- Ask it “Are you a person?” and talk about its answer.
- Look through the app’s settings together, and agree one house rule, such as no personal details in chats.
AI friends and companions
An Jargon busterAI companion: A chatbot app designed to act as a friend or partner, chatting in a personal way and remembering what you tell it. is always available and remembers what you tell it. Like other chatbots, it tends to tell people what they want to hear, a habit called Jargon busterSycophancy: When an AI tells you what you want to hear, agreeing with you instead of giving an honest view.. For a lonely or anxious child, that can feel comforting, but it isn’t a real friendship, and some conversations may not be suitable for children.
Check the age rating and terms of any companion app, and notice how your child talks about it. If they say an AI understands them better than people do, that’s worth a gentle conversation, not a telling-off.
Homework, controls and warning signs
For homework, AI should explain, not do. Hints and practice questions help a child learn, while copying an answer teaches nothing. Schools set their own rules on AI, so check them. AI for homework has prompts that turn a chatbot into a tutor.
Use the Jargon busterParental controls: Settings on a device, app or broadband connection that let parents limit what children can see, download, buy or do, and for how long. on phones, tablets and games consoles to manage which apps your child can download and when, and your broadband provider’s filters to block unsuitable sites. Some AI apps have their own parental or teen settings, too. Controls help, but they don’t replace talking, or noticing signs like these:
- Being secretive about an app, or switching screens when you walk in.
- Seeming upset, anxious or withdrawn after time online.
- Talking about an AI as a best friend, or preferring it to people.
- Staying up late to chat, or spending money in an app.
For the privacy settings worth checking on any AI app, read is AI safe to use?
Check yourself
3 quick questions nothing is savedSpotted a mistake? Tell us and an editor will check it.
