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“AI is a fantastic, positive tool that can expand youth creativity and access to information.”
“AI is dangerous! It will take over our kids’ minds and their future jobs.”
No matter where you sit on the spectrum, no matter the age of your child, if you are a parent, you are likely thinking about how rapidly expanding artificial intelligence (AI) will impact your kids and family. If you’ve got school-age kids, you may already be actively trying to understand and/or mediate their use of AI technology or help them navigate healthy, ethical engagement with this powerful tool.
foundry10, the Seattle-based education research organization, has been examining these questions, reviewing research and interviewing teens and caregivers on the topic. “Navigating AI as a Family: Caregivers’ Perspectives and Strategies,” a new white paper released by the organization this month, sheds light on how U.S. caregivers and teens are navigating AI usage, mediating its potential social impacts, and ensuring ethical usage of AI.
The report offers useful tips for parents and caregivers on how to educate kids and engage with them in the face of rapidly increasing access to, and widely expanding uses for, this technology.
Get ready
The first tip? But before jumping into conversations with kids, parents, caregivers and teachers, parents can strengthen their own understanding of the technology. The paper notes that “Communication between caregivers and youth about AI can be challenging.
“Many adults are only beginning to familiarize themselves with AI and few resources are available to help caregivers navigate these conversations,” the authors found. “Additionally, caregivers’ perceptions of AI often differ from those of their children.”
Not only that, but often teens have more experience than their parents interacting with AI. Self-education is a way to close that knowledge gap and level the conversation field.
Ask questions first
Once you feel like you have the basics down, the next step is to start casual, nonjudgemental conversations with your child. Ask questions and share your experiences with AI. The report offers these questions as starting points
- “What are some responsible ways to use AI tools?”
- “How can we ensure that using AI doesn’t hurt others?”
- “Can you think of a time when you might want to use AI? What would be the right way to do it?”
- “What are some potential benefits of using AI, and what potential risks should we be aware of?”
- “How can we use AI to help others or improve our community?”
The paper goes on to offer several other tips for navigating AI use with kids, including:
Introduce AI at developmentally appropriate times: According to the authors, “Appropriate age and manner of introducing AI will likely vary depending on the child and family context.
“For young children, it may be more suitable to start conversations about responsible technology use rather than introducing popular AI tools like ChatGPT,” researchers said. “Understanding a child’s developmental stage is crucial, as early exposure to complex technologies can be mismatched with their cognitive abilities. Instead, caregivers can focus on fostering foundational
digital literacy skills, such as recognizing the difference between real and fictional content or understanding basic online safety.”
Explore AI and co-create together: Exploring technology together, the paper finds, “helps young people build healthy habits and learn responsible decision-making around digital technology use.” So spend time with your child learning about, discussing, or using AI tools.
Practice fact-checking and critical thinking: If your child uses AI, they will encounter misinformation. Teach them the critical skill of fact-checking and cross-referencing. Encourage your child to cross-reference facts when using AI.
Show them how to tell if the content is AI-generated: Kids should be taught to consider AI as a secondary source, not a primary source.
Think about the work future with kids: Nearly 20 percent of American workers currently have jobs with high AI exposure, according to a 2022 Pew Research survey. Invite your kids to consider how AI might play a part in a profession they are interested in.
Promote ethical AI use and originality: foundry10 researchers stress that ethical AI use should be paramount in all discussions of AI use with kids. If a child uses AI in their school work, they should acknowledge it, even if they are creating something new with an AI product.
Balance AI use with offline activities: Moderation, moderation, moderation – make that your family’s AI mantra. At the same time, make it mandatory that kids engage in offline activities – playing, reading, non-computer art or creativity projects. All of these develop critical thinking and other important life skills that kids need.
Set clear boundaries around AI use for schoolwork: “Youth understand that generative AI can be both beneficial and detrimental to learning in different contexts and are looking for clear guidelines on AI use in schools,” foundry10 researchers wrote. “Along with teachers and schools, caregivers can help establish rules about when and how AI can be used for school assignments to ensure it aids learning without replacing skill development.
“Aim to develop and adjust these rules collaboratively with youth,” they add, “considering their interests and perspectives.”