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10 questions to ask your child about AI tonight
You do not need a lecture. You need a conversation your child can answer from something they have already seen: a homework chat, a filter, a game, or a video that looked real. Start with the question GIofAI Kids is built around: what does AI get wrong?
- What does AI get wrong? Listen for “it sounds sure” rather than “it is always right”. If they have no example, try one together using how to tell when AI is making things up.
- Where did you see AI this week? Search, photos, games, school platforms and chats all count. Naming the product matters more than the word “AI”.
- What did you type into it? This is the privacy question without the word privacy. Names, schools, photos and friends’ messages should not go in. More on open chat tools is in is ChatGPT safe for kids?
- Could you explain the answer without looking? If not, it is not their work yet. That is the homework rule in should kids use AI for homework?
- What would you check before you believed it? A second source, a date, a link that actually opens.
- Who is this tool for? Many public tools are not for children under 13. The split we use is in what age can children use AI.
- What should our family rule be? One sentence they help write is stronger than a list you hand down. Learners in the program take a Family AI Agreement home for this conversation.
- When is AI the wrong tool? A feeling, a friendship, a medical worry, or a fact you can look up in a book you already trust.
- What would you build if it had to help a real person? A younger sibling, a coach, a grandparent. Useful projects are specific. That is the work of the ten mornings, not a trick question.
- What do you want me to know before you use it again? Then stop talking. The answer is the next rule.
If the conversation is short, that is fine
Two questions on a school night beat ten questions nobody answers. Come back to “what does AI get wrong?” after they have tried to trick a simple model, which is what the Junior and Senior groups do on day two of Future AI Innovators. Ages 8 to 17, live online across Australia, 4 to 15 January 2027. No coding experience needed.