"If anybody finds out you are in BIG TROUBLE": Understanding Children's Hopes, Fears, and Evaluations of Generative AI

2025-05-22

AI Summary

This study investigates 9–10-year-old children’s imaginings, expectations, and anxieties regarding generative artificial intelligence (genAI). Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 37 fifth-grade students, we applied thematic coding and grounded theory analysis to identify three emergent conceptual roles children ascribe to genAI: “guide,” “collaborator,” and “task substitute.” Concurrently, we distilled three dimensions of academic anxiety—“learning attenuation,” “punishment risk,” and “long-term failure.” Critically, we introduce the “hope–fear tension” model, the first theoretical framework to systematically articulate children’s ambivalent cognition of genAI, thereby challenging adult-centered assumptions in AI ethics. Our findings advance a child-centered paradigm for AI ethics design, offering empirically grounded theoretical insights and actionable pathways for participatory, child-inclusive development of educational AI tools. (149 words)

Technology Category

• Philosophy and Ethics of AI: Artificial General Intelligence
• Humans and AI: Learning Human Values and Preferences
• Natural Language Processing: Ethics — Bias, Fairness, Transparency & Privacy

Application Category

• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Trust and reliance of crowd workers and data experts on GenAI
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Accountability, Transparency, and Ethics for personalization
• Social Networks and Social Media: Generative AI / large language models and their impact on social systems

Abstract

As generative artificial intelligence (genAI) increasingly mediates how children learn, communicate, and engage with digital content, understanding children's hopes and fears about this emerging technology is crucial. In a pilot study with 37 fifth-graders, we explored how children (ages 9-10) envision genAI and the roles they believe it should play in their daily life. Our findings reveal three key ways children envision genAI: as a companion providing guidance, a collaborator working alongside them, and a task automator that offloads responsibilities. However, alongside these hopeful views, children expressed fears about overreliance, particularly in academic settings, linking it to fears of diminished learning, disciplinary consequences, and long-term failure. This study highlights the need for child-centric AI design that balances these tensions, empowering children with the skills to critically engage with and navigate their evolving relationships with digital technologies.

Problem

• Understanding children's hopes and fears about generative AI
• Exploring children's envisioned roles for generative AI in daily life
• Balancing child-centric AI design to address overreliance concerns

Innovation

• Exploring children's views on genAI roles
• Balancing AI benefits and overreliance fears
• Designing child-centric AI engagement strategies