Children are adopting AI three times faster than adults
UNICEF dropped a bombshell: children are diving into the world of artificial intelligence at a rate three times faster than adults. And we are not talking about one or two countries. An analysis in ten nations revealed that 20 million children are already using AI tools. This data comes at a crucial moment, just before the first Global Dialogue on AI Governance, and brings a warning: the rules to protect children online are not keeping pace with this frantic speed.
The research, part of Disrupting Harm Phase 2, was conducted by UNICEF's Office of Strategy and Evidence in Innocenti, in partnership with ECPAT International and INTERPOL, funded by Safe Online. Children aged 12 to 17 and their guardians were interviewed in countries like Brazil, Mexico, and Pakistan. And the numbers are impressive. More than two million children, about one in ten, are already turning to AI for advice on their concerns. Meanwhile, 13 million are using these tools to help with their studies.
The key point here is that children are exposed to AI systems without the power to avoid or question their use. They feel the effects of weak governance first and for longer, while most AI policies do not treat them as a distinct group. This tension between rapid adoption and insufficient protection is already influencing debates on child online safety in the United States and even lawsuits, such as the one in Florida against OpenAI.
The reality of children and AI
Children are not naive about the risks. One-third of them fear that AI will be used for scams or the spread of misinformation. A quarter are concerned about the manipulation of their images in explicit deepfakes, an issue that UNICEF has highlighted before. The organization is calling for more research on the effects of AI on child development, stricter laws against AI-facilitated sexual exploitation, and more support for AI literacy for children and caregivers.
What UNICEF is asking for is not new, but the scale of adoption is. The three times greater figure refers to the speed of adoption, not the volume of use. Many adults are still adapting to generative tools, a pattern that TNW has observed in workplace adoption data. Programs like Malta's national AI literacy course suggest a way forward: to combine access with structured teaching before children and parents have to figure everything out on their own.
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