Start here | Ask for a tour: “Show me one way AI helped you - and one answer you did not fully trust. |
What is common? | - AI is already built into everyday tools. It may appear in search, recommendations, school platforms, image tools, games, or chatbots - even when the label “AI” is not obvious.
- Teenagers may use it for both learning and convenience. It can explain, quiz, translate, brainstorm, give feedback, or speed up a task.
- Fluent answers can feel more reliable than they are. AI may invent facts or sources, miss context, reproduce stereotypes, or agree too readily with the user.
- Rules are changing quickly. School policies, product safeguards, privacy practices, and the abilities of the tools will continue to change.
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When should I be concerned? | - AI is replacing learning rather than supporting it. Your teenager is submitting work they cannot explain, bypassing reading or reasoning, or repeatedly breaking school rules.
- Private information is being entered. Health details, private messages, passwords, location, confidential schoolwork, or identifiable images are being shared without understanding how the service uses data.
- AI is being used to deceive or humiliate. This includes impersonation, fake intimate images, altered voices or photos, manipulation, or harassment.
- A chatbot is becoming the main source of emotional support. The teenager withdraws from trusted people, treats the system as uniquely understanding, or follows high-stakes advice without checking it.
- Use is affecting daily life or safety. Sleep, school, relationships, mood, or judgment is worsening, or the system produces sexual, violent, self-harm, or threatening content.
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What can I do to help? | Build a short family agreement - Agree on what AI may help with. Brainstorming, practice questions, translation, or feedback may be useful. Reading, reasoning, drafting, and showing one’s own work still matter.
- Ask to see the process, not only the final answer. A teenager should be able to explain what they asked, what the tool produced, what they changed, and what they learned.
- Keep sensitive information out. Do not enter private health, relationship, financial, location, school, password, or identity information unless there is a clear reason and trustworthy data practices.
- Model critical use. Show your teenager that you also verify important answers, check sources, and acknowledge when AI has helped you. Ask: “Where did this come from? Can we check it? What might be missing?” Use reliable sources or qualified people for high-stakes decisions.
- Set a firm rule against deception and non-consensual images. No impersonation, manipulation, fake intimate material, or altering another person’s image or voice without permission.
- Keep people in the loop. AI may help organize thoughts, but it should not replace a teacher, clinician, parent, or trusted friend - especially when the stakes are high.
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Review the agreement | Because the technology changes quickly, revisit the rules when your teenager starts a new tool, the school changes its policy, or the role of AI in daily life changes. |
What can I say? | “I am not asking you to stop using AI. I want you to use it without being misled or giving away something private.” “Before you trust this answer, what would you check - and who could help if the stakes are high?” “A tool can sound caring without understanding you. Important support still needs a real person.” |
Step in promptly | Act when a tool produces sexual, violent, self-harm, or threatening content; asks for secrecy, money, images, or personal information; encourages isolation from real people; or is linked to a rapid decline in well-being. |
Professional support | Seek professional support when AI use is contributing to persistent distress, compulsive use, withdrawal, sleep or school problems, or unsafe decisions. Urgent mental health or safety concerns require a person and appropriate local services, not a chatbot. |
