View image in fullscreen Composite: The Guardian/Getty Images Guardian readers share the ways and reasons they are preparing their children and students for a future that may necessitate familiarity with generative artificial intelligence
Since the release of ChatGPT in late 2022, generative artificial intelligence has trickled down from adults in their offices to university students in campus libraries to teenagers in high school hallways. Now it’s reaching the youngest among us, and parents and teachers are grappling with the most responsible way to introduce their under-13s to a new technology that may fundamentally reshape the future. Though the terms of service for ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and other AI models specify that the tools are only meant for those over 13, parents and teachers are taking the matter of AI education into their own hands.
Inspired by a story we published on parents who are teaching their children to use AI to set them up for success in school and at work, we asked Guardian readers how and why – or why not – others are doing the same. Though our original story only concerned parents, we have also included teachers in the responses published below, as preparing children for future studies and jobs is one of educators’ responsibilities as well.
Some parents and teachers told us they are going full steam ahead, integrating ChatGPT into everyday interactions with their children to explain new concepts, answer incessant questions and illustrate fanciful tales. Others, wary of the dangers AI can pose to young people , are demonstrating it only a little at a time in closely supervised settings.
Still other parents and teachers are refraining from showing their children and students how to use AI at all, concerned about harms and the impossibility of ethical use of a technology still rife with unresolved copyright questions . We felt their responses made valuable contributions to the discussion, too.
The answers below have been edited for length and clarity. The parents explaining the world with AI’s help
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How and why parents and teachers are introducing young children to AI
