French parents underestimate children's AI use, survey finds
Forty-two per cent of parents surveyed said they lacked any support in helping their children use artificial intelligence responsibly.
A YouGov survey in France found that 40 per cent of children aged 11–12 said they used general-purpose artificial intelligence each week, compared with 26 per cent of parents who believed their children did so. The research was commissioned by Interface, a Berlin-based non-governmental organisation.
The online questionnaires were completed between 24 and 30 June 2026 by 1,138 parents and 970 children aged 11–17. Participants came from YouGov’s online panel, and children took part with parental consent. Questions included examples of general-purpose AI, chatbot companions, AI features within social media and voice assistants.
Reported regular use of generative AI increased with age: 56 per cent among 11–12-year-olds, 62 per cent among those aged 13–15 and 70 per cent among 16–17-year-olds. Parents’ estimates were lower in every group, at 44 per cent, 52 per cent and 61 per cent respectively.
Among the youngest respondents, 33 per cent reported using voice assistants, while 23 per cent used AI within social media and 16 per cent used AI companions. Asked about spending longer than they wanted with these tools, 59 per cent of children using AI companions and 57 per cent using social-media AI reported doing so.
On parental support, 32 per cent felt they had enough help to guide their children’s AI use, while 26 per cent received some help but considered it insufficient. Another 42 per cent felt entirely unsupported.
Asked who should help educate and protect children using AI, 51 per cent of parents assigned responsibility to schools and teachers, 41 per cent to platform companies and 30 per cent to public authorities.
