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From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n
Your support makes all the difference.<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nRead more<\/span><\/svg><\/span><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAs AI becomes increasingly more entrenched into our everyday lives, a new survey has found that nearly a third of children using AI chatbots said that they would describe the technology as like one of their friends.<\/p>\n
The poll for Vodafone, which analysed the experiences of 2,000 children aged between 11 and 16 and their parents, found that 31% who have used an AI chatbot agreed they would describe it as like a friend, with 24% reporting that they have turned to it for advice on difficult situations.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, almost one in five (17%) reported that speaking to this technology felt safer than talking to a person.<\/p>\n
AI is a big source of concern for many parents, so we spoke to Katie Freeman-Tayler, head of policy and research at Internet Matters, who provided some information about the benefits and risk of this technology, and shared some helpful tips on how to navigate this as a parent.<\/p>\n
How do young children use chatbots and what are the benefits?<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cWhen we spoke to children and young people as part of our Me, Myself and AI research last year, we found that the children who were regularly engaging with AI chatbots were using them for a range of reasons, such as for school work, advice and even for companionship,\u201d says Freeman-Tayler.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe positives that we saw, or were explained to us by children\/young people, were mostly around learning. For example, the chatbots enabled them to practice a language that no one else at home spoke, to learn at their own pace and to work through concepts that they didn\u2019t understand by putting information into language and examples that were easier for them to digest.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey also reported that chatbots were helpful at providing step-by-step guidance for less sensitive topics, such as How do I learn how to French braid my hair?\u201d<\/p>\n
What are some potential risks of children using AI chatbots?<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cWe don\u2019t necessarily know what the long-term impacts of AI chatbots are for children or adults yet, but using chatbots regularly could potentially impact young people\u2019s critical thinking skills, given that children are still learning and developing,\u201d notes Freeman-Tayler.<\/p>\n
There are also concerns around how chatbots are used for companionship.<\/p>\n
\u201cParents should be watching out for whether children are forming an emotional attachment to a chatbot, for example, are sharing personal information with it or relying on it for more serious advice rather than turning to a trusted adult,\u201d highlights Freeman-Tayler.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur report found that vulnerable children, who may not have strong offline relationships or a trusted adult in their life, were much more likely to lean on chatbots for friendship, and were more likely to say that talking to a chatbot was like talking to a real person.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition, there are also valid concerns around the accuracy and reliability of this technology.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe found examples of chatbots disagreeing with themselves and giving inaccurate advice, which for children, who may not have developed critical thinking skills, can be quite dangerous,\u201d says Freeman-Tayler.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, a lot of AI chatbots aren\u2019t built for children, but that doesn\u2019t stop children using them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis might mean that children might be exposed to age inappropriate content or harmful content,\u201d notes Freeman-Tayler.<\/p>\n
The world of AI is still relatively new and confusing to everyone and can be a very daunting subject for many parents, so here are some tips on how to navigate AI chatbot\u2019s usage and conversations with young children\u2026<\/p>\n
Ask questions<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cParents are children\u2019s main source of information about online safety, and are often who they turn to when something goes wrong, so it\u2019s important to have conversations with them and to ask them questions about their online life,\u201d advises Freeman-Tayler.<\/p>\n
Explore AI together<\/strong><\/p>\nSupervised exploration can be beneficial for young children, so Internet Matters recommends using AI tools together so you can model safe behaviour, answer questions and set expectations early.<\/p>\n
Explain how it works<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s important to ensure your child understands that they\u2019re not talking to a real person by explaining the mechanics behind these machines,\u201d says Freeman-Tayler.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that parents often struggle with this themselves, so sites like ours, internetmatters.org, can be useful as we have lots of free resources, advice and conversation starters that parents can lean on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Build early critical thinking<\/strong><\/p>\nInternet Matters also recommends asking simple questions like: \u201cDoes this make sense?\u201d or \u201cHow can we check this?\u201d to help your child build critical thinking skills.<\/p>\n
Prioritise data and privacy safety<\/strong><\/p>\nAI chatbots can collect personal information, so Internet Matters advises parents to adjust app privacy settings where possible and to teach their children about what personal data is and to remind them not to share private details.<\/p>\n
Set clear boundaries<\/strong><\/p>\nInternet Matters also recommends clearly setting out rules of where and when young children can use AI tools, and how they are allowed to use them, to help\u00a0 to ensure that the tools are used in healthy, age-appropriate ways.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story. The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it. Your support makes all the difference. Read more As AI becomes increasingly more entrenched into our everyday lives, a new survey has found that nearly a third of children using AI chatbots said that they would describe the technology as like one of their friends. The poll for Vodafone, which analysed the experiences of 2,000 children aged between 11 and 16 and their parents, found that 31% who have used an AI chatbot agreed they would describe it as like a friend, with 24% reporting that they have turned to it for advice on difficult situations. Furthermore, almost one in five (17%) reported that speaking to this technology felt safer than talking to a person. AI is a big source of concern for many parents, so we spoke to Katie Freeman-Tayler, head of policy and research at Internet Matters, who provided some information about the benefits and risk of this technology, and shared some helpful tips on how to navigate this as a parent. How do young children use chatbots and what are the benefits? \u201cWhen we spoke to children and young people as part of our Me, Myself a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11806,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11805"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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