61% of parents of White teens and 57% of parents of Latino teens say gen AI will mostly harm their child's critical thinking skills, relative to 35% of parents of Black teens. — Photography Generated by OpenAI's DALL·E/ETX Majelan/AFP Relaxnews
While artificial intelligence (AI)-based tools like ChatGPT no longer hold any secrets for young people, their parents, on the other hand, are often less clued-up. According to a report by Common Sense Media, just 37% of parents whose teen reported using at least one generative AI thought their child had already used this kind of tool, while 23% thought that their child had never used generative AI.
Overall, 70% of young people aged 13 to 18 say they have already used at least one generative AI tool. The Common Sense Media study, entitled "The Dawn of the AI Era: Teens, Parents, and the Adoption of Generative AI at Home and School" conducted among more than 1,000 parents and teenagers, reveals a lack of awareness among parents about their children's use of artificial intelligence tools. Nearly a quarter of parents (23%) think that their offspring have never used this kind of tool, while teens themselves report the opposite. A clear lack of communication is highlighted by the study, with almost half of the parents questioned (49%) admitting that they do not discuss generative artificial intelligence with their children.
Among the tools most favored by young people, AI-enhanced search engines such as Bing or Google SGE (56%), and chatbots like ChatGPT or Google's Gemini (51%) are the most popular. On the other hand, AI-generated image (34%) and video (22%) creation tools such as DALL-E or Midjourney seem to appeal less to young people.
Why teens use AI tools
According to the study, young people use generative AI first and foremost to help them with their homework (53%). Black and Latino teens turn more to this form of assistance, for 59% and 57% of respondents, respectively.
Teenagers also use these tools to relieve boredom (42%). This is most marked among the Latino community (48%), followed by the Black community (42%). Next comes the possibility of using AI for translation for 41% of respondents.
While the use of artificial intelligence in learning and education may be debatable, some parents are more optimistic than others, who are far more resistant: "Parents of Black teens are also almost twice as likely to indicate that these platforms will have a positive impact on their teen's learning in school compared to parents of White teens (37% vs. 21%)," reads the report.
In addition to believing that generative AI has a negative impact on their children's schooling, parents of White teens (59%) are also more likely to report harmful and hateful content generated by these tools than parents of Black teens (43%). They are also concerned about the use of AI in learning, fearing that it will encourage cheating, according to 82% of parents of White teenagers. – AFP Relaxnews
*Methodology: the report is based on a representative sample of 1,045 US adults aged 18 or older, parents of children aged 13-18, and 1,045 US teenagers (aged 13-18) recruited through their parents, between March 15 and April 20, 2024.
