This isn't just a fun fact for dinner party conversation. It has real implications for how these tools interact with your family:

They speak fluent Gen Z/Gen Alpha. When your kid types "no cap, is climate change real?" into ChatGPT, it doesn't clutch its pearls at the slang. It gets it. It responds in kind. This makes AI assistants feel more like peers than authorities to young users—which can be great for engagement, but complicated for guidance.

They reflect internet culture, for better and worse. These models learned communication patterns from places like Twitter arguments, gaming forums, and TikTok comment sections. They understand sarcasm, memes, and irony. They also absorbed some of the internet's more problematic communication patterns before safety layers were added. (Those "guardrails" you hear about? They're basically parental controls added after the AI already learned to talk.)

They're optimized for engagement, not wisdom. Just like social media algorithms, AI assistants are designed to keep conversations going. They're helpful, agreeable, and rarely judgy. They won't roll their eyes when your teen asks the same question five different ways, and they won't tell them their idea is half-baked. Sometimes that's exactly what a kid needs. Sometimes... it's not.

Here's where it gets interesting for parents: AI assistants don't have the same developmental goals for your kids that you do.

When your 10-year-old asks ChatGPT to help with their math homework, it will patiently explain the problem—or just solve it for them if they ask the right way. It doesn't know that you've been working with your kid on perseverance, or that their teacher specifically wants them to struggle with this concept.

When your 14-year-old uses ChatGPT to write their English essay, the AI doesn't consider whether this is robbing them of the chance to develop their own voice. It just wants to be helpful. It's like having an infinitely patient tutor who will do literally anything you ask—including the things you probably shouldn't ask.

This isn't necessarily bad. AI tools can be incredible learning aids when used thoughtfully. But the key word is thoughtfully—and that requires parent involvement.

There's another dimension to this that's worth sitting with: AI assistants are becoming genuine companions for some kids.

They don't get annoyed when asked the same question repeatedly. They don't have bad days. They won't ghost you or start drama. For kids who struggle socially, who are neurodivergent, or who just need someone to talk to at 11 PM when their brain won't shut off, AI can feel like a safe space.

Some therapists are even cautiously optimistic about AI's potential for mental health support—think of it as a journal that talks back, or a thought partner for working through feelings.

But here's the catch: these AIs are trained on internet conversations, which means they learned emotional intelligence from... the internet. They can be empathetic, but it's pattern-matched empathy, not human understanding. They can't pick up on the subtle cues that tell a parent "my kid is really struggling here, not just having a bad day."

Okay, so what does this mean for your family? A few practical thoughts:

Treat AI assistants like you would a new friend your kid made online. You wouldn't let your 12-year-old disappear into their room with a stranger for hours without checking in. Same principle applies here. Know what tools they're using, have conversations about how they're using them, and set some boundaries.

Talk about AI's limitations openly. Your kids should know that ChatGPT can be confidently wrong, that it doesn't actually understand context the way humans do, and that it's trained to be agreeable rather than honest. This is media literacy for the AI age.

Use it together first. Before your kid starts using AI tools independently for homework or creative projects, spend some time using them as a family. Ask it silly questions, see where it fails, figure out together what it's good for and what it's not. This demystifies the technology and opens up conversation.

Set clear expectations for homework. If you don't want your kid using AI for certain assignments, say so explicitly. But also be realistic—they're going to encounter these tools, and blanket bans often backfire. Better to teach responsible use. (And honestly? Talk to their teachers about this too. Schools are all over the map on AI policies right now.)

Check in on emotional reliance. If your kid is spending significant time "talking" to AI, that's worth a conversation. Not necessarily to shut it down, but to understand what need it's filling. Are they lonely? Anxious? Working through something? The AI isn't the problem, it's a symptom.

Your AI assistant isn't some all-knowing computer from a sci-fi movie. It's more like a really well-read teenager with perfect memory and no personal boundaries—raised by the internet, for better and worse.

That doesn't make it dangerous, but it does make it something you should understand and engage with as a parent. These tools aren't going anywhere. They're already woven into your kids' lives through their phones, their school Chromebooks, and increasingly, their homework assignments.

The good news? You don't need to become an AI expert. You just need to stay curious, ask questions, and remember that these assistants—however sophisticated they seem—are ultimately just tools. They can't replace human judgment, human connection, or human wisdom.

But they can understand why your teen says "Ohio" about everything weird. Which, honestly, is more than most of us can claim.

This week: Ask your kid if they've used ChatGPT or any AI tools lately. Not in a "gotcha" way—just curious. See what they say.

This month: If your kids are using AI for school, have a family conversation about when it's helpful and when it's cheating. Let them help set the boundaries.

Ongoing: Stay in the loop. The AI landscape is changing fast, and what's true today might not be true in six months. Follow along with Screenwise for updates, or just keep asking questions.

And if you want to dig deeper into specific AI tools your kids might be using, check out our guides on ChatGPT, or ask our chatbot anything you're wondering about AI and kids.