Google plans to roll out its AI chatbot to children under 13

Google plans to roll out its Gemini artificial intelligence chatbot next week for children younger than 13 who have parent-managed Google accounts, as tech companies vie to attract young users with AI products.

- NATASHA SINGER

“Gemini Apps will soon be available for your child,” the company said in an email this week to the parent of an eight-year-old. “That means your child will be able to use Gemini” to ask questions, get homework help and make up stories.

The chatbot will be available to children whose parents use Family Link, a Google service that enables families to set up Gmail and opt into services such as YouTube for their child. To sign up for a child account, parents provide the tech company with personal data such as their child’s name and birth date.

Gemini has specific guard rails for younger users to hinder the chatbot from producing certain unsafe content, said Karl Ryan, a Google spokesperson. When a child with a Family Link account uses Gemini, he added, the company will not use that data to train its AI.

Introducing Gemini for children could accelerate the use of chatbots among a vulnerable population as schools, colleges, companies and others grapple with the effects of popular generative AI technologies.

Trained on huge amounts of data, these systems can produce humanlike text and realistic-looking images and videos. Google and other AI chatbot developers are locked in a fierce competition to capture young users.