How old do you have to be to start using an AI chatbot? In some families, children as young as kindergarten age are already engaging with the likes of ChatGPT and Gemini.
That's according to a new survey from Pew Research, which reports that 3% of parents who responded said that their children ages 5 to 7 had ever used a chatbot. That jumps to 7% for parents with children between 8 and 10 years old and to 15% for those between 11 and 12.
About 40% of parents said their 12-or-under children used voice assistants like Alexa and Siri.
The findings come out of a survey of more than 3,000 US parents that looked broadly at how they're managing screen time for their children. While the AI chatbot usage averaged out to about 8%, or nearly 1 in 10 children, there were far higher numbers for screen use in that age group, including 90% for television, 68% for tablets and 61% for smartphones.
Many parents find keeping up a challenge, with 42% saying they could better manage their kids' screen time and 58% saying they're doing the best they can.
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The use of artificial intelligence by children and teens has stirred unease for many people. In August, OpenAI added parental controls to ChatGPT after a family sued the company, alleging the chatbot had been a factor in the suicide of their 16-year-old son. Some states have also issued warnings to AI companies about technology that may be harmful to children.
(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET's parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)