Family · school
AI in kid's homework
30-second gist~30s read
Banning AI from homework rarely works. Pretending kids aren't using it doesn't either. The honest middle: teach them how to use it, just like you taught them how to use a calculator or Wikipedia.
The line that holds for most ages: AI is fine for thinking with, not for handing in.
If you want more
When to encourage
- Brainstorming, getting unstuck, finding the start of an essay.
- Explaining something the teacher said that they didn't get.
- Practicing maths or languages — AI as a patient tutor.
- Translating the tone of an email home from school.
When to step in
- If they hand in something they didn't read end to end. (The classic AI-essay tell.)
- If they're using it for assessed pieces without telling the teacher.
- If they've stopped trying first — gone straight to the AI for the answer rather than thinking. The skill that suffers fastest is "sit with hard for ten minutes".
One conversation worth having
Sit with them. Open ChatGPT or whichever they use. Ask the AI the same question two different ways. Show them how the answer changes. Explain that this is why they still need to think — the AI isn't a source of truth, it's a fluent guess. They'll remember this longer than any rule you set.