Most parents know AI is important for their kids' futures, but they haven't said a word to their children about it. The data showing that gap makes it harder to ignore.
72% of parents are concerned about AI's impact on their children.¹ That's a lot of folks feeling some level of worry about this technology. Whether it's safety concerns, privacy issues, or just the general lack of understanding, the anxiety is real and widespread.
88% of parents believe AI knowledge will be crucial for their child's future.²
Think about that… we're worried about something we know our kids absolutely need to know. Sort of reminds me of sex ed: if you don't talk about it, the internet will. Friendly reminder: the internet is not exactly known for nuance.
49% of parents have never spoken to their child about generative AI.³ Not once.
I get it... how do you explain something you don't fully understand yourself? Especially when it feels like AI went from science fiction to everywhere overnight.
Searches for "AI" tripled in under a year, according to Fireflies.ai research. That's how fast this hit the mainstream. ChatGPT hit a whopping 100 million active monthly users in just two months.
So while we're figuring out what to say, our kids are already having their own AI experiences. They're asking Siri questions, getting YouTube recommendations powered by algorithms, and yes, experimenting far beyond that.
7 in 10 teens have already used at least one type of generative AI tool — but only 37% of their parents knew about it. Nearly 1 in 4 parents believed their teen hadn't used AI at all.⁴
Ready for another mind-bending stat?
81% of parents either don't believe or aren't sure if AI is part of their child's curriculum.²
We know AI will be crucial for our kids' futures, but most of us don't know if it's being taught in school. Meanwhile, our children are already using AI for homework, and 46% of those are using it without their teacher's permission.⁴
And this one is huge: research from UC Irvine found that children between three and six years old already believe that smart devices have thoughts and feelings.⁵ They're developing potentially harmful foundational beliefs about AI. And those beliefs? They’re going to stick.
A kid who grows up thinking Alexa has feelings may trust what she says too much. They may feel guilty not believing her or turning her off.
It doesn't stop there. A 2025 Common Sense Media study found that nearly 3 in 4 teens have used an AI companion, and half of them use one regularly.⁶ This isn’t like googling for homework help or asking Siri how to fry an egg. These are teenagers forming perceived relationships with AI. Confiding things they don’t tell their friends or parents. Getting answers and advice that may not be what they need to hear.
It’s incredibly easy to anthropomorphize AI, and therefore no surprise that our kids are doing it. The scary part is that many of them are doing it without conversations and guidance from the adults in their lives. And they’re doing it on platforms that weren’t built for them in the first place.
It’s time to change that.
¹ Barna Group survey, February 2024 (n=800 U.S. parents)
² Morning Consult survey conducted for Samsung
³ UNICRI global survey published at the Interaction Design and Children Conference, 2025 (n=160 parents across 19 countries)
⁴ Common Sense Media, The Dawn of the AI Era: Teens, Parents, and the Adoption of Generative AI at Home and School, September 2024 (n=1,045 teens ages 13–18 and their parents)
⁵ Referenced in a World Economic Forum analysis (February 2025) citing UC Irvine research on young children's anthropomorphization of smart devices.
⁶ Common Sense Media, Talk, Trust, and Trade-Offs: How and Why Teens Use AI Companions, July 2025