Judgment in the Age of AI · Article 32
Children need more than technical instructions when they encounter AI; they need age-appropriate boundaries. A short, revisable family agreement makes it easier to speak up than a vague warning to “use it properly”.
A six-point agreement
- Do not enter a real name, school, address, contact details, passwords or another person’s secrets.
- Do not treat AI as a person or trust a promise that it will keep everything private.
- For health, danger, bullying, sexual content or intense feelings, speak to a trusted adult first.
- Follow school rules and say how AI helped with homework.
- Check important facts in at least one other reliable source.
- Close anything uncomfortable, strange or secretive and tell an adult without fear of punishment.
The younger the child, the more important shared use becomes
A parent can try several questions together: make the AI produce an easily detected error; compare two answers; practise removing personal details; and discuss why it responded that way. The aim is not to monitor every sentence, but to build a relationship in which help can be requested.
The most important family rule is that a child will still come back and tell you when something goes wrong.
References
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