Children's charity Barnardos is calling on the Government to ensure the school curriculum includes practical lessons on understanding artificial intelligence (AI).
The Barnardos Online Safety Programme has released a new report, Exploring AI with Children and Young People, which found that 63% of children and young people heard about AI from social media.
More than half of children and young people said they wanted to learn more about AI at school, 93% of parents surveyed said they have concerns about their children using AI, while 95% of teachers said they have not received any training in AI.
"Children and young people tell us that aspects of AI are useful, fun and can be used in ways that help them to understand their world," said Niamh McLoughlin, Barnardos Online Safety Programme Co-Ordinator.
"However, they also have concerns about how AI can be used to manipulate them and to invade their privacy".
"While the potential benefits of AI for children are recognised, we must also acknowledge the potential risks," Ms McLoughlin said.
"This report highlights a lot of uncertainty from children, young people, parents and teachers about AI," she added.
Barnardos is calling on the Government to provide parents with accessible, easy-to-understand resources to help them guide their children safely and confidently in their engagement with AI.
The charity also wants to teachers provided with clear guidelines and practical training to confidently teach and guide students in understanding and using AI.
The report was compiled using qualitative focus groups and a quantitative survey between May and June 2024.
The school-based initiative engaged with over 500 children and young people from 5th and 6th class in primary school and 1st to 3rd year in secondary school, through focus groups and surveys.
101 parents and 63 teachers also engaged with surveys.
Since 2019, the Barnardos Online Safety Programme, with the help from Google.org, has reached 90,000 children in 800 schools.
