Children and chatbots: What parents should know

AI chatbots have become a big part of all of our lives since they burst onto the scene more than three years ago. ChatGPT, for example, says it has around 700 million weekly active users, many of whom are “young people.” A UK study from July 2025 found that nearly two-thirds (64%) of children use such tools. A similar share of parents is worried their kids think AI chatbots are real people.

While this may be a slight overreaction, legitimate safety, privacy and psychological concerns are emerging due to frequent use of the technology by youngsters. As a parent, you can’t assume that all platform providers have effective child-appropriate safeguards in place. Even when protections do exist, enforcement isn’t necessarily consistent, and the technology itself is evolving faster than policy.

What are the risks?

Our children use generative AI (GenAI) in diverse ways. Some value its help when ...