According to Common Sense Media, a U.S.-based nonprofit, 85 per cent of young AI users rely on it for homework help.portishead1/Getty Images
Parents are right to be scared of AI, not only because it’s developing so rapidly that we can scarcely keep up, but because many children and teens are already using it more than we realize. In fact, many parents don’t know that their kids are using it at all.
Several recent studies reveal that young people have adapted quickly to AI and now rely on it to provide support in various ways. According to Common Sense Media, a U.S.-based nonprofit, 86 per cent of kids ages nine to 17 have used or interacted with AI, and a majority does so at least weekly. It’s used for schoolwork, entertainment and emotional support, each of which carries different risks.
Many kids use AI to complete school assignments. Common Sense Media found that 85 per cent of young AI users rely on it for homework help, with one in five using it daily. When a child uses AI for homework, it prevents them from grappling with complex concepts and retaining knowledge. The point of education is to establish a cognitive foundation, but when problem-solving is offloaded to AI, that ability is never learned. It’s like taking a forklift into a gym and having it lift weights for you; the workout happens, but you gain nothing.
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AI’s most popular use by young people, perhaps surprisingly, is for entertainment. Common Sense Media reports that 89 per cent of young AI users use it “just for fun,” with 75 per cent employing it to make images, videos and music. Many young people are entertained by AI chatbots, which some may view with simple curiosity but to which others develop a troubling attachment.
Emotional support is another way in which young people use AI. Hopelab interviewed young people who said AI chatbots allow them to “avoid overburdening other people” with their problems, spare them vulnerability, provide instantaneous support and offer “unbiased” advice.
Another paper, from the University of North Carolina, currently under review, looked at the rapid spread of AI use among middle-schoolers and found that a substantial number of kids (two to four per classroom) now prefer interacting with chatbots over humans, despite any AI use being associated with higher social anxiety and depressive symptoms. Study co-author Mitch Prinstein described it to The Wall Street Journal as “a pretty existential concern for this generation.”
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The fact that so many young people are turning to AI for homework help, entertainment, and emotional support speaks less to the versatility of the technology than to the tragic inadequacy of the human support systems in their lives. I can’t help but wonder, where are the adults? Why have the children, the most vulnerable members of society, been so recklessly surrendered to the machine while struggling with their math questions, or wanting something fun to do, or just feeling lonely? Their needs aren’t complicated; they’re perfectly normal, and they deserve the presence of a patient parent, teacher or friend, not a computer program. If we are too busy or distracted to notice how untethered and alone our children feel, then we adults are failing in our most fundamental duty.
Interacting with AI is poor preparation for relationships with real people, in the real world – and isn’t that the point of childhood? It’s not good if a child gets nothing but positive affirmation. Friction is not a bad thing when it challenges us and promotes the inner growth we need to become resilient, empathetic humans. Furthermore, if a child always gets simulated friendship from AI, they may never learn how to be a friend to someone else.
As parents, we must take a stand against the presence of AI in our children’s lives. We should insist that they be fully “human-raised,” to use author and pediatrician Dana Suskind’s term. This means strictly limiting interactive screen time, where kids are likely to encounter chatbots. It means cracking down on screens in the bedroom at night. It means demanding a moratorium on the use of AI in schools, particularly before high school.
It means talking to our children about AI, even when we feel woefully uninformed. Nearly half of kids have never had a conversation with their parents about AI safety, according to Common Sense. Just as we saw with smartphones and social media, conversations about safety are lagging behind the technology’s rapid development. We cannot make that mistake again.
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Finally, we must be present for our children. We must model for them a deep love and appreciation for a life rooted in reality. That, I believe, is the most powerful parenting tool when it comes to protecting childhood from tech takeover.
Katherine Johnson Martinko is a writer, speaker, and author of the upcoming book Hold the Phone: How Parents Can Rescue Their Kids From Too Much Screen Time, out in November.