Cover image of the report featuring a mother and her daughter looking at a laptop together.

The Dawn of the AI Era: Teens, Parents, and the Adoption of Generative AI at Home and School

Since ChatGPT burst onto the scene in 2022, schools have been at the center of conversations about AI. Students were among the first to leverage it for schoolwork, and leaders discussed how generative AI could transform classroom learning.

 

Understanding how young people are using AI at home and at school—and the differences between their adoption and that of their parents—should inform a school's approach to AI tools and policies, and also how we prepare young people for a future where AI could change everything. This new report provides important perspectives on how young people themselves feel about generative AI and how they're using it.

 

Young people are adopting generative AI quickly, similarly to how they adopted social media. And they're using it most often for schoolwork. But most parents aren't aware that their teens are using generative AI at all, even though seven in 10 youth have used at least one type of gen AI tool. And schools are struggling to keep pace with how these technologies affect teaching and learning.

 

What stands out the most from this research, however, is that open channels of communication can impact how young people and parents feel about the promises and pitfalls of generative AI in education and learning.

 

We can leverage the power of communication and open dialogue among young people, parents, caregivers, and educators to both encourage more consistent policies across classrooms and to help young people understand both the promises and risks of generative AI.