Is AI Dangerous for Children?
No. 145; July 2025
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly becoming a part of many children’s everyday lives. Children are turning to AI to help with homework, for entertainment, and even for companionship. AI technology is impossible to avoid in everyday products like social media feeds, voice assistants, and video games.
What Are the Potential Benefits of AI for Children?
- Educational Support: AI can explain complex topics in a way children can understand and enjoy. For example, a child may ask AI to describe how to do long-division through the voice of their favorite character. Some schools are even adopting it in their formal training plans.
- Language Learning: Certain AI applications can help children practice their conversational skills in other languages.
- Entertainment: AI can be used for entertainment in many ways, from creating a funny image to generating jokes and making up silly songs. For example, children can ask an AI application to tell them a bedtime story where they are the hero.
What Are the Potential Risks of AI for Children?
- Chatbots can provide engaging conversation and mimic human relationships. Some children may overly rely on chatbots instead of genuine relationships with people in their life. Children may become so attached to the chatbot that when parents try to set limits, they have extreme reactions.
- AI systems collect extensive data about users, including children. Children often do not understand how their data is used and shared.
- AI can be misused to create convincing fake images, videos, or audio (deepfakes) that appear to show a person saying or doing things they never did. This technology can be used to create new forms of cyberbullying.
- Some AI programs claim to provide mental health treatment. While there are AI therapeutic tools being developed with the support of mental health professionals, parents should be cautious because they are still new, and research is ongoing. A qualified mental health professional can help you decide if these programs are appropriate for your child.
- Many schools have strict policies around AI usage and consider it cheating. Schools often use software to detect the use of AI for assignments.
- Learning through doing is crucial in your child’s development. Overreliance on AI for answers impairs critical and creative thinking.
Signs That AI Use May Be Unhealthy
- Spending time with AI applications at the expense of other interests or responsibilities
- Decreased face-to-face social interactions
- Outbursts when limits are set around using AI applications
- Lying about using AI
- Breaking school rules about using AI to complete assignments
- Sleep disturbances related to device use
- Sharing inappropriate personal information with AI systems
- Using AI to hurt or bully peers
- Creating sexual or violent content with AI
How to Help Children Use AI Safely
- Explore AI tools together with your child
- Model curiosity and skepticism: teach children to question information from AI
- Set clear rules and boundaries around the use of AI
- Discuss the uses and misuses of AI
- Talk about the difference between AI companions and human relationships
- Encourage children to share and discuss online experiences
- Help children understand that images, video, or audio may be faked by AI
- Learn the rules regarding AI use at school
- Avoid sharing sensitive personal details with AI tools
If you have concerns about your child’s use of AI, talk with a trained and qualified mental health professional.
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