Based on new data from 10 countries, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that at least 20 million children have used AI, with young people adopting the technology at rates more than three times faster than adults.

Perhaps most strikingly, an estimated two million children – around one in 10 – said they turn to AI for advice about things that worry them, while 13 million reported using it to help with schoolwork and homework.

“AI is here. It is a growing part of all of our lives” UNICEF said in a statement released on Tuesday. “It is already shaping childhood around the world – for better and for worse.”

Life experiment

While AI offers new opportunities for learning and creativity, UNICEF warns that evidence about its effects on children's development, emotional well-being and exposure to harm, is only beginning to emerge.

“In effect, a generation is growing up inside a global experiment” the agency said.

Children themselves are increasingly aware of the risks. One-third of those surveyed expressed concern that AI could be used to scam people or spread misinformation, while one-quarter feared their images or videos could be manipulated into sexually explicit deepfakes.

UNICEF warned that children are often the first to experience the consequences of poorly regulated AI systems, despite having little control over how the technology is designed or how their personal data is collected and used.

Protect and regulate

Ahead of the first Global Dialogue on AI Governance, UNICEF is urging governments and technology companies to put children's rights at the centre of AI regulation.

The agency called for stronger protections against AI-enabled sexual exploitation, greater investment in research on AI's impact on child development, safer and more transparent AI systems, improved digital literacy for children and parents, and expanded digital access to prevent a widening AI divide.

“The choices made about AI now” UNICEF said, “will shape children's safety, privacy, well-being and their equal access to opportunities for decades to come.”