Is AI safe for kids? An Australian parent's plain-English guide

You have probably watched your child type a question into ChatGPT, or seen an AI feature pop up inside an app they already use, and felt a small knot of worry. Is this safe? Is it going to do their homework for them, feed them something it shouldn’t, or quietly learn too much about them? That worry is reasonable, and you are not behind for having it.

I am Naomi Shiels. I founded Cleared For Take-Off Academy, and I use these tools every day. I have written 14 books and made 216 songs with AI in the loop. I am not an engineer. I learned the same way you and your child will, by showing up and trying things and paying attention to what went wrong. So this is the guide I wish someone had handed me, written for one parent who is a bit nervous, not for a crowd.

Quick answer

AI is not simply safe or unsafe for kids. It depends almost entirely on two things: how it is used, and which tool you choose. Used well, with a parent nearby and the right tool, AI can be a genuinely brilliant learning aid. Used carelessly, on an open adult chatbot with no supervision, it carries real risks worth taking seriously. The good news is that the safeguards are practical, and most of them you can put in place this week.

The honest answer, slightly longer

The same chatbot that can patiently explain photosynthesis five different ways can also confidently make up a fact, write your child’s essay for them, or drift into a conversation that feels far more personal than it should. The tool does not know it is talking to a ten year old. That is the heart of it.

So the question is not really “is AI safe.” It is “is this particular use, on this particular tool, with this much supervision, safe for my child.” Once you frame it that way, you are back in familiar parenting territory. You already make these calls about screens, games and the internet. This is the same job with a new piece of equipment.

The real risks, named plainly

I am not going to soften these, because pretending they do not exist is how kids get hurt.

• Privacy and oversharing. Children treat a chatbot like a friend and tell it things: their full name, their school, where they live, what they did today. Many AI tools use conversations to improve their systems. Information that goes in does not always stay private, and a child has no instinct for that.
• Inappropriate or wrong content. Open adult tools are not built for children. They can surface material that is too mature, and they get facts wrong while sounding completely sure of themselves. A confident wrong answer is harder for a child to question than an obvious one.
• Over-reliance. This is the one I see most. If AI does the thinking, the child does not build the muscle. A tool that writes the paragraph, solves the maths and answers the question removes the productive struggle that learning actually requires.
• Misinformation and deepfakes. AI can generate fake images, fake voices and fake video that look real. Children are still learning that not everything on a screen is true. This makes that lesson much harder, and much more important.
• Chatbots that feel like a friend. Some AI is designed to be warm, agreeable and always available. For a lonely or anxious child that can become a substitute for human connection, and the bot will rarely push back, set a boundary, or notice something is wrong the way a person would.

None of this means AI is the enemy. It means it is a powerful tool that needs an adult in the room.

Practical safeguards you can use this week

You do not need to be technical to do any of these.

• Hold the account yourself. Set up and own the login. Most general AI chatbots are intended for ages 13 and up anyway, and younger children should be using your account with you, not their own.
• Make one rule non-negotiable: no personal details. Never the real name, photo, home address, school or phone number. We teach this at the Academy as a flat line that never moves: never put passwords, bank, card or ID details into AI. Same rule, child-sized.
• Choose age-appropriate, hands-on tools. Instead of handing a child an open adult chatbot, start with tools built for learning how AI works. Google’s Teachable Machine lets a child train a simple model by showing it examples, so they see the machine learn. Scratch, from MIT, lets them build games and stories and now includes AI-style extensions. These are safer, more active, and they teach how the thing actually works rather than just consuming its output.
• Use it together, in a shared space. Keep AI use out of the bedroom and on a shared device where you can glance over. Sitting beside them for ten minutes teaches more, and catches more, than any setting.
• Talk about it openly. Ask what they made, what the AI got wrong, whether they believed it. Curiosity beats surveillance. A child who can tell you “it gave me a fact that turned out to be made up” is a child who is learning to think, not just to click.

What good AI use actually looks like

There is a real difference between a child using AI and AI using a child.

Good use is active. The child is learning how it works (why does it sometimes get things wrong?), making something (a story, a picture, a small game, a quiz to test themselves), and questioning what it says (is that true? how could I check?). The AI is a tool in their hands and they are still doing the thinking.

Passive use is the opposite. The child asks for the answer, copies it, and moves on. Nothing was built and nothing was learned, except that the machine will do it for you. The exact same tool produces both outcomes. The difference is entirely in how it is used, and that is where you come in.

The human stays in charge

At the Academy we have one idea we keep coming back to: you are the Captain, and AI is the crew. The crew is capable and fast, but it does not fly the plane and it does not get the final say. You shape the work with it, and you check its facts.

For a child, that idea is gold. AI is a helper, not a teacher and not a friend. Your child gives the instructions, your child decides what is good, and your child verifies anything that matters. A ten year old who learns “I am in charge of this tool” grows into a teenager who is far harder to fool.

The Australian bit

If something goes wrong, you are not on your own. Australia has the eSafety Commissioner, a government body with practical, plain-language guides for parents on online safety, including AI, plus a way to report serious harm such as cyberbullying or image-based abuse. It is worth a bookmark before you need it. Australian schools are also working through their own AI guidance, so it is reasonable to ask your child’s teacher how AI is being used in the classroom and what they expect at home.

FAQ

What age is appropriate for kids to use AI? Most general chatbots set their minimum age at 13. Younger children can still benefit from AI, but on your account, with you present, ideally through learning-focused tools like Scratch or Teachable Machine rather than open adult chatbots.

Will AI make my child lazy or stop them thinking? It can, if it does the work for them. It does the opposite when they use it to make things and to question answers. The job is to steer them toward active use, and that mostly comes from talking about it rather than banning it.

Is it safe to let my child use ChatGPT? With supervision, a shared device, your account and the no-personal-details rule, it can be fine for an older child. Unsupervised, on their own login, for a younger child, I would not. The tool is the same either way. The supervision is what changes the answer.

If you would like a calm, step-by-step way to learn this alongside your child, our Kids & Teens program is opening soon, and you can join the waitlist here.