AI and your child (8–13): a safety checklist for parents
Before your child opens ChatGPT or any other AI tool, answer three questions: is the tool allowed at this age, what does it do with data, and where is the adult in the picture. Below are the age rules of popular tools, five questions to ask of any AI tool, and how we work with children ourselves.
Checked 1 October 2026 · next review 1 January 2027
1. Start with the tool's own age rule
| Tool | Minimum age | What matters for parents |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | 13; under 18 with a parent's consent | If ChatGPT is used for learning with a child under 13, an adult does the actual interaction |
| Gemini | under 13 only through a parent-managed account (Family Link) | A parent turns access on and gets an email when the child first opens it. For under-13s, Keep Activity and "Hey Google" are off and extra filters apply. Not available for supervised accounts in the EEA, Switzerland and the UK |
| Claude | 18 | Not for children or teens under the service's terms |
| Suno | 13; under 18 only with a parent's express consent | Under 13 may not use it at all |
| Replit | 13; under 18 with a parent's permission | — |
| GitHub | 13 | — |
The age in the terms is a floor, not a recommendation. Rules change, so we re-check them before each course.
2. Five questions to ask of any AI tool
- What does it do with your child's data? Does it keep conversations, for how long, does it train on them, does it share them? A quick test: search the privacy policy for "sell", "share", "third party" and "advertising".
- Does it say plainly that it is a program? A tool for children should not pretend to be a person or a friend.
- What happens on unsafe topics? Are there filters, what can the adult see, and how do notifications work?
- Does it teach thinking or hand over answers? A good tool helps a child frame the task and check the result. If it simply does the work, be cautious.
- Does it use hooks? A "virtual friend", daily streaks or rewards for logging in every day are a strong reason to keep it away from a child.
3. Teens 13–17 on ChatGPT: what parental controls do
- A parent links their account to the teen's account.
- You can set quiet hours when ChatGPT is unavailable, and turn off voice mode, image generation and memory. Reduced sensitive content is on by default.
- The parent does not see the teen's conversations, chat history or real-time activity.
- A notification is sent only when there are signs of a serious safety risk to the teen, and it contains no conversation text.
Controls set limits; they do not replace a conversation and an adult nearby.
4. Four rules to agree with your child
- I set the task, not the AI.
- I don't type my name, address, school or phone number, and I don't upload photos — mine or anyone else's.
- I check facts elsewhere: AI can be confidently wrong.
- I can explain what I did myself and where the AI helped.
5. How we work with children at AI Skill Lab
- An adult handles all arrangements and contact; we never ask a child for their own contact details.
- We don't require children's projects or personal details to be published.
- Before using any tool, we check its current age rules.
- A child under 13 doesn't need their own ChatGPT account: if the tool is shown, the adult operates it.
- In sessions we practise checking facts, judging sources and separating the child's own work from AI help.
More on our Safety, Parents and AI for kids 8–13 pages.
Talk about your child's interests →
Sources
Checked 1 October 2026.
- OpenAI Help Center — age requirements: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/8313401
- OpenAI Help Center — parental controls on ChatGPT: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/12315553
- Google — Gemini for a child under 13 with a Family Link account: https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/16109150
- Anthropic — Consumer Terms (effective 8 October 2025): https://www.anthropic.com/legal/consumer-terms
- Suno — Terms of Service (updated 10 August 2026): https://suno.com/legal/terms
- Replit — Terms of Service (updated 3 August 2026): https://replit.com/site/terms
- GitHub — Terms of Service: https://docs.github.com/en/site-policy/github-terms/github-terms-of-service
- Internet Matters — How to decide if an AI tool is safe (and helpful) for your child (15 Oct 2025, updated 23 Jan 2026): https://www.internetmatters.org/hub/guidance/how-to-decide-if-an-ai-tool-is-safe-and-helpful-for-your-child/
This is not legal advice. Service rules change — check the current terms before use.