Friends or Frenemies?

Children are increasingly using AI apps to do much more than just homework. Parents and experts weigh in on where to draw the line

- By SAMIDHA JAIN

When 10-year-old Inaaya Abrol and her friend decided to become the youngest entrepreneurs in the country, they turned to ChatGPT for guidance. While they did get a lowdown on how to firm up their idea and come up with a business plan, like many 10-year-olds, they soon forgot all about it and moved on to other interests.

Children like Abrol, and those younger and older than her, are using artificial intelligence (AI) applications such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity for a myriad reasons other than firming up business plans. Some use it to finish their school homework, others to write speeches, complete projects, write essays, generate images, write code and play games, and still others turn to it for therapy and guidance. They are growing up with the familiarity of AI voice assistants like Alexa or Siri to play a song, know about the weather or get any information they might think of.

According to a January Pew Research Center report about teenagers in the US, their usage of ChatGPT for schoolwork doubled from 13 percent in 2023 to 26 percent in 2024. While it is difficult to find published data on AI usage among Indian children and teens, it is pretty commonplace to come across instances in our circles of friends and families. The pace at which children are taking to AI has raised concerns among parents, educators, and even those creating AI apps.

Mumbai-based child psychologist Riddhi Doshi Patel says excessive reliance on AI can hinder a child's creative thinking, cognitive skills, self-reliance and confidence. She has been dealing with children and worried parents who think their kids are losing interest in the outside world and are looking at their gadgets all day, and prescribes restricted use of AI for children. She quotes an article she read: “When AI completes a task too quickly, it’s not helping a child to win. It’s quietly taking away the opportunity to learn how to think.”