We can’t escape sport right now – football here, tennis there. While that’s been on in the background, I’ve been working on the website. The AI Dictionary and Quick Explainers are live, and a Tool Guide and Safety Hub are coming soon. I want this to be the best place to come for all things parenting and AI so let me know what you think is missing.
This week in the newsletter we’re talking about whether you should worry about your son’s AI companion, a five-minute way to make chores less painful, and why UNICEF says children are picking up AI three times faster than the adults around them.
This Monday on the podcast
Do I need to worry about my son’s AI companion?
The government has proposed new rules on AI companion chatbots, which makes this a good week to actually answer the question. Holly and I are joined by Professor Andrew McStay, Bangor University’s Professor of Technology and Society and Director of the Emotional AI Lab, who has spent years studying how AI companions are built to seem emotionally responsive and what that does to the people talking to them.
It’s on YouTube, Spotify and Apple from Monday morning.
This weekend’s AI activity
Turn a chore list nobody wants to do into one ongoing quest, with each chore as a stage on the way to a reward.
It takes about five minutes to set up, and it’s a good one if you’ve got a child who’ll do almost anything if it’s framed as an adventure.
There’s a step-by-step guide over on our blog – with a handy pdf download.
One AI thing worth knowing this week
UNICEF published new research this week on how fast children are taking up AI. Across ten countries surveyed, children are adopting AI more than three times faster than adults. One in ten said they turn to AI when something’s worrying them, not just for homework.
The UK wasn’t one of the countries surveyed. But Ofcom’s own UK research has found similar patterns closer to home, so there’s little reason to think British children are behaving very differently.
There’s nothing to act on today. But reading this and listening to Monday’s episode is exactly the kind of thing that helps. UNICEF is specifically calling for better AI literacy support for parents, which is the whole point of what we’re doing here.
Over to you
That’s it from me this week. Hit reply and tell me what’s on your mind – a question about AI and your kids you want answered on the show, or something you wish the website had that it doesn’t yet. I read every single reply myself.
You can also message us on Instagram and Facebook.
Have a great weekend,
Fiona