Pa. researchers say safeguards are needed to keep kids safe with AI
Pa. researchers say safeguards are needed to keep kids safe with AI
https://www.wesa.fm/education/2026-03-20/ai-child-development-safeguards-research
Publish Date: 2026-03-20 05:30:00
Source Domain: www.wesa.fm
Artificial intelligence could be used to improve learning, creativity and social interaction among kids and teens, early research shows.
But the technology can be harmful to childhood development without the right safeguards, according to a new review study published in the journal Pediatrics earlier this month by experts at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
“Right now, many of us are participating in this natural experiment of figuring out how these tools might be useful and in what ways they might be harmful,” said Dr. Robert Grundmeier, a CHOP primary care pediatrician. “What we really need is some organized and rigorous research to really help to answer those questions.”
AI is rapidly becoming part of everyday life and is used in children’s toys, games, social media, behavioral health programs, school classrooms and elsewhere. Nearly two-thirds of teens surveyed by the Pew Research Center last fall reported having used an AI chatbot.
These experiences inspired Grundmeier and a team of CHOP pediatricians, psychologists and AI experts to compile data scattered across several early studies on the subject and identify the technology’s greatest benefits and risks on children of different ages.
“And notably, we are also all parents and are navigating this world about artificial intelligence in our own households,” Grundmeier said.
What does the research say?
Researchers found that in very early childhood with kids 5 and younger, interactive AI storytelling programs and toys could support language development and vocabulary, and even improve interaction among family members.
Grundmeier, who is also director of clinical informatics at CHOP’s Department of Biomedical and Health Informatics, uses the example of an exhausted parent whose child asks for an original bedtime story before they go to sleep.
“Maybe you’re not feeling your most creative at that moment,” he said. “So you as a parent can use an AI…
