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Why banning kids from AI isn’t the answer

What kids really need in the age of artificial intelligence.

This story originally appeared in Kids Today, Vox’s newsletter about kids, for everyone. Sign up here for future editions.

Bans on kids and teens using social media have swept the country and the world in the past few years, with lawmakers from Australia to Massachusetts enacting or considering legislation to keep young people off platforms like TikTok.

Now the Canadian province of Manitoba is planning to go one step further: banning kids from using AI chatbots.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew announced the proposed ban at an April fundraiser, arguing that tech platforms are “doing these very awful things to kids all in the name of a few likes, all in the name of more engagement, and all in the name of money.”

Kinew didn’t say which social media and AI platforms the ban might include, or when the legislation might be introduced, although Manitoba’s education minister has said enforcement might begin in schools.

So far, social media bans don’t have a ton of evidence behind them. Australian teens seem to be getting around their country’s ban, possibly by wearing masks to foil age-verification systems. Some experts have also questioned the wisdom of locking kids out of social media, which can have benefits as well as risks.

Why we shouldn’t ban kids from social media

But AI regulation is a new frontier. While social media platforms have been with us in some form for decades, AI tools have only been available to ordinary kids and teens for a couple of years — and they’re evolving and becoming more ubiquitous all the time. Some parents say AI chatbots have encouraged children to harm themselves or others, and experts fear that early use of AI in the classroom could keep young people from learning vital critical-thinking skills.

From my reporting on social media, I’m suspicious of age-related bans. But I’ve also been watching with anxiety as AI creeps into my kid’s life, not to mention my own. So I asked experts, educators, and young people themselves what kind of guardrails could help keep kids and their education safe from the most pernicious effects of artificial intelligence.

I did not (spoiler) come away with a clear legislative proposal that would solve all of our problems around this technology. What I did find, however, were a few guidelines that radically changed how I think about AI in my life, and that I think can help us guide kids........

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