A new YouGov survey of French teenagers and their parents has shed light on their differing experiences and attitudes to artificial intelligence, revealing that parents significantly underestimate their children’s use of AI and do not feel supported enough to help them understand how to use it appropriately.
The survey found that while 40% of 11- to 12-year-olds report using general-purpose AI weekly, just 26% of parents realise their children are doing so — a glaring 14 percentage point gap. It also found that 42% of parents do not feel supported at all in helping their kids understand how to use AI responsibly.
Artificial intelligence is becoming embedded in just about every aspect of children’s lives, from helping with homework and research to AI companions and features in social media and gaming.
It is unknown yet what the full impact will be on them as they grow up, learn and engage with the world, but the debate over who should bear responsibility for this is shifting.
2026 has been a watershed year for Big Tech companies, one that has seen awareness over the impact of their platforms on children’s wellbeing and mental health enter the spotlight.
From Australia’s social media bans for children to the litany of lawsuits in the US against tech companies accused of worsening the country’s mental health crisis, and the EU’s latest proposal to rein in platforms — known as the EU Kids Act — people and authorities are growing ever more scrutinising of how digital platforms operate and how best to curb their influence.
It also comes at a time when France’s youth is taking to the streets in protest against the deterioration of school infrastructure, severe teacher shortages and an unfair university admission system, while the government is rolling out massive investments in AI infrastructure.
Berlin-based NGO Interface commissioned YouGov to carry out an online survey earlier this year exploring these issues in relation to the explosion in the use of artificial intelligence platforms and services among kids and teens in France.
The survey took place in France from 24 to 30 June this year. 1138 parents of children aged 11-17 and 970 kids aged 11-17 took part by answering a questionnaire including examples of different AI categories.
Categories included general-purpose generative AI such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude, AI companions such as Character.AI, generative AI embedded in social media like Snapchat’s My AI and AI voice assistants such as Siri.
Respondents were recruited from YouGov’s online panel and with parental consent for the children taking part.
Kids are using AI more and starting earlier
While artificial intelligence has truly entered the mainstream in the last couple of years, the survey reveals just how much it is already a part of children’s lives.
Adoption of AI tools start early, with 56% of 11–12-year-old respondents saying they use at least one type of generative AI tool like ChatGPT once a week, with 40% of them using general-purpose AI weekly and 33% using voice assistants like Alexa.
A further 23% of 11–12-year-olds reported using AI embedded social media such as Snapchat’s My AI, and 16% — roughly one in six children — use AI companions to chat and converse with.
“The AI chatbot is also like having a friend that is available 24/7. It doesn’t get tired and it always agrees with you,” says Jessica Galissaire, a senior policy researcher at Interface.
The Interface researcher also says that 11-12-year-olds should not even have access to according to the platform’s own terms and conditions, such as Character.AI, which requires children be 16 years old in the EU.
Another worrying trend is that the younger the child is, the more their parents underestimate their AI use.
56% of 11-12-year-olds reported using generative AI tools regularly, while their parents estimated 44% do. For 13–15-year-olds it is 62%, with their parents estimating 52%. And for 16-17-year-olds, 70% use AI regularly, with the parents believing 61% do — showing the gap narrows with age, however, use consistently increases across the board.
This growth in use with age is recognised by teenagers too, with the survey showing they feel that AI is keeping them on platforms longer than they want.
“92% of generative AI users say they spend more time than they would like on it also, you know, points to not, I don’t want to say addiction, but it’s still a widespread feeling of spending too much time with it than intended,” said Galissaire.
Among the individual categories, AI companions (59%) and those integrated into social media (57%) scored the highest figures when children were asked if they spent more time with them than they wanted to.
Parents want help
The survey also revealed just how vulnerable parents in France feel in raising their children to deal artificial intelligence and the challenges it raises.
“Only 32% of them feel supported enough in helping their children navigate their AI use, 26% feel supported but not enough and 42% of them don’t feel supported at all,” said Galissaire, arguing that those who are more vulnerable or use AI the least feel particularly left behind.
“For the parents who don’t have that knowledge or are less digitally literate or don’t have the time, it’s even more complex for them to put in place parental control tools and to discuss with their kids,” added the Interface researcher.
As to who should help them educate and protect their children when using artificial intelligence services and platforms, it’s a complex picture.
A surprising 51% of parents said teachers and schools should bear responsibility, while just 41% felt the platform companies themselves should shoulder the burden, followed by public authorities at 30%, showing that parents feel it should be addressed by both governments and educational institutions as well as by the AI companies responsible for the platforms.
What is being done
The findings of the report raise questions about how effectively the EU’s proposed Kids Act will protect children who are already using AI services at a young age, particularly when many parents say they don’t feel supported enough to help them.
The European Commission presented its proposal in September as a way to strengthen platform accountability and shift the burden onto Big Tech companies to make their platforms safer for children.
“Today, our children are engaging with the most sophisticated technologies ever created… Our Kids Act is reversing the burden of proof – it is for platforms to show they are safe by design,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in September.
The proposal promises age limits, parental controls and a crackdown on the “addictive” features baked into social media, video platforms and AI chatbots alike.
It also calls for a total, blanket social media ban for under-13s, while those up to 15 years old would be able to make “mini accounts” — limited, highly supervised profiles linked to a parent’s profile.
But Galissare believes, based on the survey’s findings, that parental controls and age restrictions won’t be enough.
“I’m more in favour of forcing platforms to be safe by design rather than imposing age bans that are tricky to implement for many reasons and also don’t seem to work,” she says.
She also warns that social media bans “give a false sense of security, as long as it’s not properly implemented, because parents may think, okay, there’s a ban, so I can give a phone to my kids and not watch what they are doing anymore.”
Adding, “Regulation in itself will never be enough. Prevention and empowerment must play a huge role as well.”