Editor's Note: This column was co-authored by Stacey Schieffelin. 

Not so long ago, parents only had to worry when their children ventured outside the safety of the four walls of the family home. But times have changed. Now, thanks to artificial intelligence (AI), children face real danger as they sit in their rooms. They can be exploited by faceless adversaries while you sit together under the same roof. These threats to your children aren’t just inside the walls of your home. Many aren’t even human. As we head into summer, it’s even more urgent that parents understand the threat. We must demand that AI companies implement safety protections for children. 

In the summer—without classes and homework to occupy them—more than two-thirds of children spend more time online. The CDC reports that over half of children between the ages of 12 and 17 use screens for over four hours daily, and their usage consistently spikes during summer break. In the next few months, millions of American kids will spend a significant portion of their days online, potentially interacting with AI chatbots. 

Sixty-four percent of children already use AI regularly, and nearly 75 percent of children have used AI at least once; numbers........

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