How old do you have to be to start using an AI chatbot? In some families, children as young as kindergarten age are already engaging with the likes of ChatGPT and Gemini.
That’s according to a new survey from Pew Research, which reports that 3% of parents who responded said that their children ages 5 to 7 had used a chatbot. That jumps to 7% for parents with children between 8 and 10 years old, and to 15% for those between 11 and 12.
About 40% of parents said their 12-or-under children used voice assistants like Alexa and Siri.
The findings come out of a survey of more than 3,000 US parents that looked broadly at how they’re managing screen time for their children. While the AI chatbot usage averaged out to about 8%, or nearly 1 in 10 children, there were far higher numbers for screen use in that age group, including 90% for television, 68% for tablets and 61% for smartphones.
Many parents find keeping up a challenge, with 42% saying they could better manage their kids’ screen time and 58% saying they’re doing the best they can.
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The use of artificial intelligence by children and teens has stirred unease for many people. In August, OpenAI added parental controls to ChatGPT after a family sued the company, alleging the chatbot had been a factor in the suicide of their 16-year-old son. Some states have also issued warnings to AI companies about technology that may be harmful to children.
(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)
Advice for parents about chatbots
Parents appear to be navigating uncharted waters with chatbots in the same way that previous generations of parents dealt with the rise of the web, the proliferation of smartphones and tablets, online games geared to kids and social media.
One expert — Titania Jordan, chief parent officer at Bark Technologies, which makes software to help parents monitor app usage —has written on the subject of parenting and chatbots. Jordan believes parents need to get educated before they can guide their kids on chatbots.
“Parents should learn all they can about AI, chatbots and companions so they can talk to their kids about the potential dangers they pose,” Jordan says. “Otherwise, kids will learn about them from friends and peers.”
While chatbots might be useful for helping with schoolwork or creating and designing projects, Jordan warns that “kids are forming relationships with AI-generated personalities, which is concerning.”
She advises parents to ensure that children who have access to chatbots are aware that they’re not a substitute for human interaction and that not everything chatbots say should be believed.
“Show them instances where other children have been harmed or misled by AI so they know about the very real dangers that are present,” Jordan suggests.
