The role AI can play in helping children thrive

Are a parent, it's natural to be concerned about the potential drawbacks of these changes, but it's equally important to recognise the opportunities they bring to the table.

Where and how do children encounter AI?

Believe it or not, your child is probably exposed to AI on a regular or daily basis without you even thinking about it – it’s not a new technology and has been around and developing since the 1960s.

When you stop to ask Siri or a Google Assistant to help you out, you’re using AI. But the way it is part of everyday life does make for a very new world that our kids are developing within and the forms of AI they are encountering can be found in interesting places.

The specific technology that children use at school – known as edtech, often uses adaptive learning – a form of AI. However, generative AI, such as writing tools that can make complete essays from basic prompts (like ChatGPT and Bard), has presented new challenges, especially in classrooms.

While we're familiar with predictive text in Google Docs or text messaging, having a program generate a whole piece of writing from simple questions or requests is quite new.

The good stuff.

AI in education can be exciting! It can make learning personal, adapting to each child's strengths and weaknesses. AI tools can figure out how a child learns best, adjusting lessons to help them understand better.

This keeps kids from falling behind and makes learning inclusive for everyone. ChatGPT and similar tools make learning fun and interactive, offering instant feedback and helping children explore what interests them.

Using these tools can improve communication, critical thinking, and creativity.

The things you might be worried about.

While AI has benefits, parents should know about the downsides. Cheating is a worry, but talking to children about honesty and ethical tech use can help. Another concern is misinformation, but teaching children to question and fact-check information can counter this.

Encouraging a healthy scepticism while instilling a love for learning ensures that children approach AI-generated content with a critical eye.

Parents should also ensure that AI supports traditional learning and doesn't hinder academic progress.

The ways parents can help.

You can play a vital role in guiding your children to use AI wisely. You should explain that not all AI-generated content is accurate and show that relying on it for schoolwork might lead to mistakes.

While doing this, don’t forget to get them excited about the tech and explore ways they could use the tools in a way that could kick-start further research.

Staying involved in your child's education and talking to teachers can help you to monitor AI's impact. Regular communication with teachers ensures that both home and school are providing effective learning environments.

By embracing the good parts, dealing with risks, and staying involved, parents can help kids thrive in a world influenced by AI. The key lies in fostering a healthy relationship with technology, instilling values of integrity and curiosity, and actively participating in your children's educational journey.

Start the conversation and keep it going every day!

So that you can start having the kind of conversations with your children that will encourage behaviours that will help them to thrive, we have developed some easy conversation starter prompts. Explore these and have a chat today!