When 10-year-old Inaaya Abrol and her friends decided to become the youngest entrepreneur in the country, they turned to their current favorite knowledge of the world, Chatgupt, for guidance. They solidified their ideas and fell down on how to come up with a business plan like many 10-year-olds, but they quickly forgot all that and moved on to other profits.
Children like Abrol, and younger and older than her, use artificial intelligence (AI) applications such as ChatGpt, Gemini, and Prperxity for countless reasons other than creating business plans. Use it to complete school homework, others write speeches, complete projects, write essays, generate images, write code and play games. They are nurtured by the familiarity of AI voice assistants like Alexa and Siri, playing songs, knowing the weather, or getting information they think about.
According to a January 2025 report from the Pew Research Center on US teens, ChatGpt usage for academics doubled from 13% in 2023 to 26% in 2024. The pace at which children are taking to AI has sparked concern among parents, educators and even those who create AI apps.
Mumbai-based child psychologist Riddy Dosi Patel says that excessive reliance on AI can hinder children's creative thinking skills, cognitive skills, independence and confidence. She deals with children who think their children are losing interest in the outside world and worried parents, she watches gadgets all day long, and provides for the limited use of AI for children. She quotes an article she read, “When AI completes a task quickly, it doesn't help a child win. It steals the opportunity to quietly learn to think.”
Children ages 5-13 experience many developmental processes, including intensive construction, problem solving, and creative thinking. Patel believes that continuing use of AI can lead to children losing opportunities to be resilient. “AIs can be useful at times, but their use should be limited in certain age groups,” she adds.
Ahmedabad-based Shachi Joshi is a six-year-old doctor and mother who presents a different perspective and recognizes the use of AI as a “double-edged sword.” She believes she has to monitor it as it can definitely be misused. It can do their studies for them and they may not know anything about the work. But when used in the right way and in moderation, it is a great technique. “It's going to make life easier. If your life is easier, do you want it to be even more difficult?” she asks. Joshi believes he is not opposed to understanding and cleverly using AI products when children's routines are regulated in the right way.
Joshi, whose son learns coding using AI at school and comes up with a quiz at home, thinks that “Director is AI” is the way to go for his kids. This means that in schools, teachers need to take information and prompts about AI apps in advance, and children must have access to only relevant information. Joshi, the chat user herself, believes that children are interested in how their parents use AI and want to follow suit. “I want him to be well educated about it because he's going to try it,” she says. “I give him an example of my profession, where I will tell ChatGpt a lot of patients asking questions and how to say to correlate it with what the doctor is advised.”
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In July, Elon Musk, owner of social media platform X, announced the launch of Baby Grok, a children's version of X's AI Grok. This comes after Google announced its intention to work on a Gemini app for kids.
The launch of Baby Grok followed the controversial AI avatar called Ani introduced by Grok. Many social media users have expressed serious concern about the possibility of ANI, a provocatively dressed blonde anime female character. Ani's answer is said to have been triggered even when Grok's “Kids Mode” was activated. This sparked broader debate on the validity of parental control, the effectiveness of content moderation on AI-driven platforms, and the potential psychological impact on younger users.
Manjuu Rangarahjan, a resident of Bengaluru, is monitoring her teenage son's use of Chatgupt, but has not yet spoken to him. Rangarajan's 14-year-old son Tarunkrishna uses ChatGpt and confusion at home for academic purposes, and believes it has become part of everyday life. He is studying coding at a school where AI is not recommended. “It's good to know that he uses AI for research and other research-related purposes, but we're at an age where many ideas come to mind, so we're a little worried too,” says the 50-year-old PR professional. “We told him it was his responsibility to use it the right way, and that responsibility ensures he feels we trusted him and put the ball on his court, and that he sticks to it.”
Some children themselves are skeptical or wary. Chiara Fernandez, 12, uses AI to write short stories and funny poems and generate photographs. “I think that from my knowledge of AI and our conversations with school and friends, AI will increase every day in the future and many people use it and rely on it, so they will take over the world.
Chiara Fernandez and Mother Vinita. Image: Team Now and Forever
When Inaya Abrol first learned about AI, she thought it was really cool. But now she thinks it will replace much of what humans do. “I saw this cool video on YouTube, where a bunch of bunnies were jumping on the trampoline. I later searched on Google and found out it was an AI-generated video. I was shocked. Everything about that video looked very realistic,” says a class 5 student.
Chiara's mother, Vinita Fernandez, spoke to her for her oversharing with the AI. “I told her that privacy is the most important thing. I don't know where this data will be shared or if it's safe,” says the 39-year-old. Privacy, or lack of it, is an element that even AI app creators warn. For example, during a podcast with Theo von in July, Openai CEO Sam Altman warned that while users often reveal the most personal details of their lives to chatgpt, their interaction lacks privacy protection and could potentially be created for lawsuits and other legal reasons. Altman further pointed out that although the interaction between a patient and a doctor or client and a lawyer is protected by privilege, this is not the case for a person's interaction with ChatGPT.
Fernandez feels he feels he is dependent on AI. Because if your child is always getting ready-made answers, he cannot find a solution to the problem. “The widespread use of AI can also lead to a lack of human interaction. Instead of expressing things in front of her eyes, she tries to suppress them.
Inaya's mother, Mumbai-based content creator Yuvika Abrol (40), was first threatened by AI. Abrol considers AI to be sugar. “Everyone likes it, but everything is modest and just keeping it loose. She also believes that schools should teach children about AI and they have to start young. “We have to accept that they are using it. Now that we've embraced it, it's always easier to have a guided way to use AI in a responsible way.”
Riya Shah, a teacher at Jabalpur Primary School, saw first-hand that children ages 5 to 13 are becoming increasingly aware of AI in ways that we don't expect. “Their understanding may not be deeply technical, but many are incredibly well-versed in the existence and use of AI in everyday life,” she says. Many schools in the city are very new and uneven, but they are beginning to talk to children about AI, she adds. “In my classroom, AI is not taught as part of digital literacy, not as a major technical subject. We talk to children about responsible use and show whether AI can help them come up with ideas or check spelling, but it reminds us that homework should reflect our efforts.” She says it is a growing field that teachers are still learning with students, while awareness, guidance and risks are being discussed.
Psychologist Patel says young children asked Chat Gupto, “Hey, I feel depressed, what do I do?” Or, “Hey, I don't have any friends, will you become my friends?” or, “Hey, my parents are abusing me or limiting me to doing anything. How do you manage this?” She believes, in a way, AI will replace parents and educators. “It's time to start pulling the string.”
Rather than overseeing what their children do online, she advises parents to get involved in it. She believes that setting AI time for a child is not a bad idea, just like the concept of screen time. “If they're bored off screen, that's really good. At least they're thinking,” she says. “Don't let your kids use AI at all. They invite them to have their own perspective. Once their ideas are generated, they are made up of algorithms that don't live their lives.”
Teachers, parents, and experts are all about the opinion that AI should be a tool in a child's life and not replace a parent, teacher, friend, or therapist. “The use of AI is inevitable, but the need for time is to protect children from its harm,” Patel concludes.
