Does My Child Need to Use AI to Avoid Falling Behind?
When classmates are using AI to finish homework faster or produce impressive-looking work, it’s understandable to wonder whether your child is missing out. Predictions about AI transforming employment can add to the pressure, making early use feel like essential preparation.
Protecting the learning children need
AI can make homework look impressive while doing a lot of the thinking a child needs to practise. Working out how to start, trying an approach, and revising an answer are often part of how understanding develops.
The OECD’s 2026 education report describes studies in which students produced better work with general-purpose AI, but lost that advantage, or performed worse, when it was removed. It also identifies benefits from carefully designed educational uses, where the technology supports the learning process.
A major Brookings review concluded in January 2026 that, on the current trajectory, the risks of generative AI in children’s education outweighed its benefits. It recognised potential benefits from well-designed tools, while warning that overreliance could undermine children’s development and capacity to learn.
Children still need opportunities to read, write, discuss ideas, and work through problems with appropriate support. The knowledge they build also helps them recognise when an AI-generated answer is wrong.
Familiarity doesn’t require a chatbot relationship
A child doesn’t need an AI friend, a conversational AI toy, or regular personal conversations with a general-purpose chatbot to become comfortable with technology or understand AI.
SAIFCA recommends that children do not use AI companions or toys that hold open-ended conversations and behave as friends. General-purpose chatbots can also become a source of attachment or personal advice, alongside risks involving harmful content and privacy.
Children can learn through discussion, teacher-led examples, and age-appropriate explanations. For example, a teacher could show an AI-generated answer containing a factual error and help pupils check it against reliable sources. This doesn’t require pupils to have chatbot accounts.
Understanding when AI is useful
AI literacy should help children question whether a tool is useful for a particular purpose. It should also help them understand why more AI isn’t necessarily better.
Alongside learning about inaccuracies and bias, children can gradually explore who makes these systems, how companies profit from them, what happens to users’ information, and their effects on work, the environment, and society. Our schools guide discusses this wider approach.
Some carefully chosen tools can potentially provide valuable accessibility or educational support. Where benefits are demonstrated, fair access is important. But, as our inequalities article explains, a child isn’t automatically disadvantaged by missing out on a product whose safety or usefulness hasn’t been established.
Preparing for the future
AI could cause major changes to employment, but starting chatbot use early cannot guarantee a benefit in terms of a secure career. Our future-of-work guide recommends supporting children’s knowledge, independent reasoning, communication, and practical experience, while recognising that governments and employers must address changes families cannot manage alone.
Parents can help by:
- Protecting time for learning, interests, and activities that don’t depend on AI.
- Asking children to explain their thinking, with support when they get stuck.
- Discussing why they want to use a particular tool and whether it would help.
- Asking schools for clear expectations about AI use and how they assess pupils’ own understanding.
If your child feels disadvantaged because classmates submit AI-generated work, raise this with the school. Children should be supported in doing the learning themselves, without families feeling pressured to accept unsafe or unhelpful uses simply to keep up.
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