What parents should be asking about AI

Children, teenagers and AI. What to allow, what to worry about and what to protect.

Of the 1245 questions on the questions map, these 52 are the ones parents have a specific reason to ask. 20 have a dedicated answer; the rest are partly answered or openly on the roadmap, and are marked as such rather than quietly dropped. Last reviewed: 13 October 2026 · Next review due: 13 October 2027.

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The 12 that matter most, with what the research says in one line.

• AnsweredShould children use AI?

  How they use it matters far more than whether they do. Age-banded, and declining to advise on under-8s because the evidence does not exist.

• AnsweredHow much should teenagers use AI?

  The frequency question is the wrong one. One field experiment: marks up 48 per cent with the tool, 17 per cent below the control once it was removed.

• AnsweredWhat should I tell my children to study?

  No evidence supports ranking subjects by safety. The only scored forecaster got relative growth right 57 per cent of the time.

• AnsweredHow do I raise a child who thinks for themselves?

  By protecting the part of the day where they are stuck. The one experiment that withdrew the tutor found unrestricted users 17 per cent below a never-used control, and the guardrailed group largely spared. Configuration decided it, not hours.

• OpenDoes AI change how children develop?

  WATCH. The evidence base is thin, and this should not be published until it is not.

• OpenWhat do AI companions do to children?

  Bill Gates raised this in August 2026, saying he doubted he would have put in the same work with a companion available. A hypothesis, not a finding.

• AnsweredWhat happens to homework?

  Marks rise while the tool is present and unaided performance falls afterwards, in both a Turkish classroom experiment and a thirty-month panel of 26,811 Chinese students. The damage concentrates in whichever students actually hand the work over rather than work through it.

• AnsweredIs it safe to use AI for therapy or advice?

  The trial that shows it works had humans reading every message, and the regulator has authorised none of it.

• PartialShould students still write essays?

  The essay was never the point. What it certified, and whether anything else certifies it, is the real question.

• AnsweredIs it bad to talk to AI when lonely?

  Relief during the chat in experiments; heavier use goes with more loneliness or lower well-being in a four-week trial, a twelve-month survey and a Character.AI study, and none shows cause.

• PartialShould I trust AI health information?

  Chatbot responses have been rated higher quality and more empathetic than physicians in one study. Neither of those is the same as correct.

• AnsweredDoes AI weaken critical thinking?

  The evidence is emerging rather than settled: three studies agree, and all three have design weaknesses. Agreement between weak designs is suggestive, not strong.

Everything else parents ask

Grouped the way the map is grouped. Each links to its answer, or to its place on the map if it is still open.

Same questions, different reader: Boards and directors CHROs and HR leaders School and university leaders University students Early career and graduates Managers and team leads Regulated and expert professions The full map, all 1245