Merve Gul Aidan Ararju
June 30, 2026•update: June 30, 2026
Children are adopting artificial intelligence (AI) technology more than three times faster than adults, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday, citing new data from 10 countries.
“AI is here. It is becoming part of our lives. And for better or worse, it is already shaping childhood around the world,” UNICEF said in a statement ahead of the first Global Dialogue on AI Governance.
The agency estimates that at least 20 million children use AI, and that more than 2 million more, or one in 10, turn to AI for advice about something they are worried about.
An estimated 13 million children say they use AI to support their learning and homework.
“Children are exposed to AI systems, including how they are designed, the business models that underpin them, and how their own data is used, but they have far less power to circumvent or challenge them,” the statement said, adding that children “are the first to feel the effects of weak governance and the ones who endure the consequences the longest.”
According to UNICEF, a third of children in 10 countries surveyed reported concerns that AI could be used to trick or deceive others or spread misinformation, and a quarter feared their images or videos would be altered into sexually explicit deepfakes.
“Too many systems are being delivered to children without guardrails. Safety appears to be an afterthought,” the agency said.
UNICEF called on governments, the private sector and partners to integrate children’s rights into global AI governance, including by investing in research on the risks of AI to children, strengthening laws against AI sexual exploitation, ensuring safe and transparent AI design, building AI literacy and closing the digital divide.
“This is a defining moment. The choices made now regarding AI will shape children’s safety, privacy, well-being and equal access to opportunity for decades to come,” UNICEF said.
