As generative AI becomes part of everyday life, schools and families are struggling to keep up. But protecting young people requires more than restrictions.
Generative AI is changing how children learn, think, and interact with technology. From ChatGPT to Google's Gemini, students now have access to tools that can write essays, solve math problems, explain complex concepts, and even offer emotional support. But while AI is advancing at breakneck speed, the systems designed to protect young people are struggling to keep up.
What are schools doing?
Schools are responding in different ways. In September 2026, Los Angeles Unified School District banned K-12 students’ access to generative AI on district-owned devices, while New York City prohibited AI in elementary and middle schools but have allowed limited, supervised use in high schools. These restrictions are an important move and reflect real concerns about privacy, academic integrity, and children's developing critical-thinking skills. But they also highlight a fundamental problem: schools can control the technology that students’ access in classrooms, but they have far less control over what happens outside school.
Since bans don't necessarily stop students from using AI outside the classroom, restricting access without providing education leaves children unprepared for technology they will inevitably encounter. Without meaningful AI literacy education, restrictions may simply push AI use beyond educators' oversight.
What about the tech companies?
Under growing pressure from child-safety advocates, researchers, parents, and lawmakers, AI companies have begun introducing stronger protections for users under 18. Most have focused on reducing exposure to harmful content, inappropriate interactions, and mental health risks. Some companies are also introducing educational features, such as ChatGPT's Study Mode and Google's Guided Learning, designed to encourage students to work through problems rather than simply receive answers.
These are welcome developments, but serious questions remain about their effectiveness. Independent testing has exposed weaknesses in both safety protections and educational safeguards, including how easily students can still obtain completed assignments rather than work through problems themselves. This raises concerns not only about children's safety, but also about the potential impact of AI on their critical thinking, motivation, and ability to learn independently. The question is no longer simply whether AI companies are introducing safeguards, but whether those safeguards actually work.
Meanwhile, even as technology companies introduce new protections, they're simultaneously integrating AI into products already used by millions of students, often faster than schools can evaluate the developmental implications.
What children really need is AI literacy.
My graduate research in Media Psychology examined generative AI through psychologist Albert Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory, which emphasizes how learning develops through interactions between individuals, their behavior, and their environment.
From this perspective, AI isn't simply another educational tool. It's part of a child's learning environment, capable of shaping their confidence, motivation, independence, and ability to think critically.
Used thoughtfully, AI can support learning by providing feedback, explaining difficult concepts, and helping students develop confidence in their abilities. But when children routinely turn to AI for answers rather than working through challenges themselves, they risk missing opportunities to develop problem-solving skills, persistence, and self-reliance.
That's why AI literacy must become a fundamental part of education, beginning with age-appropriate lessons in elementary school and expanding through adolescence.
Children need to understand that AI can be inaccurate, biased, and misleading. They need to learn how to question its responses, protect their privacy, recognize its limitations, and understand when not to use it. Most importantly, they need to recognize the difference between using AI to support their thinking and allowing it to think for them.
Schools must teach these skills. Technology companies must be held accountable for creating safer, developmentally appropriate products. And parents need the knowledge to guide their children.
The goal shouldn't be to keep children away from AI forever. It should be to prepare them to navigate it thoughtfully, critically, and independently. That's how we protect young minds in the age of AI.
You’re not alone in this. And you’re doing better than you think.
In it with you,
Sara
Don’t miss next week’s newsletter: “5 Things Every Teen Should Know Before Using ChatGPT”
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