Building brains before bots: Why children need human-centered learning in AI age

Artificial intelligence has rapidly become embedded in children’s daily lives, with recent studies showing that 70 per cent of teenagers aged 13-18 have used AI tools for everything from homework assistance to creative projects. As AI capabilities continue to expand and become more sophisticated, there’s notably less conversation about the developmental risks that come with unrestricted childhood access to these powerful systems. This gap in discourse presents both an urgent challenge and an opportunity to shape how we approach AI access for the most vulnerable users in our society.

The question isn’t whether children will encounter AI - it’s how we’ll guide that encounter to protect their development. Just as we recognize the need for age restrictions on driving, social media access, and other activities requiring mature judgment, we must acknowledge that AI interaction demands cognitive sophistication that children are still developing. This is the right time for us to establish formal age criteria for AI usage, creating educational frameworks that prioritize human development while preparing children for an AI-integrated future. This proactive approach represents a fundamental shift from unrestricted technological access to thoughtful stewardship of childhood development.

Recent research from MIT and leading child development institutions highlights both AI’s remarkable capabilities and the critical importance of age-appropriate usage. Studies using brain scans reveal that AI users show significantly reduced neural activity in areas responsible for creativity, critical thinking, and memory formation. Most concerning, children who begin learning with AI assistance may experience permanently stunted development in neural networks crucial for independent reasoning and problem-solving.

The Developmental Science Behind Age Restrictions

The foundation for age-based AI restrictions lies in well-established developmental psychology. Children don’t develop abstract thinking and sophisticated ethical reasoning until around age 11, making earlier exposure to advanced AI tools developmentally inappropriate. Among children, the Theory of Mind (ToM), the cognitive ability to understand that others have different mental states, emerges around ages 4-5.

However, critical thinking skills, essential for evaluating AI outputs and recognizing bias, continue developing through adolescence. Research consistently shows that children under 16 lack the cognitive maturity to discern AI limitations, detect misinformation, or understand the long-term implications of AI dependency. Just as we don’t allow 12-year-olds to drive because their brains haven’t developed sufficient risk assessment capabilities, we shouldn’t allow unrestricted AI access before children can think critically about the technology’s influence on their learning and decision-making. Current age restrictions for other technologies provide clear precedent. Social media platforms require users to be at least 13, recognizing that children need approximately 12 years to develop cognitive structures for ethical online decision-making. Driving ages are set at 16-18 based on extensive research showing that adolescent brains have heightened reward-seeking activity while decision-making capabilities are still maturing. The pattern is consistent: activities requiring sophisticated judgment, risk assessment, and ethical reasoning are age-restricted based on developmental science, not arbitrary convenience.

The Human Connection Crisis

Perhaps most critically, unrestricted AI access threatens the human interactions essential for healthy child development. Emotional intelligence, social skills, and empathy develop through face-to-face communication, collaborative problem-solving, and navigating complex interpersonal relationships. When children turn to AI for homework help, creative inspiration, or even emotional support, they miss irreplaceable opportunities to build these fundamental human capacities.

Research from Beijing Normal University documents concerning patterns of AI dependency among young users, with some showing withdrawal symptoms when access is removed. Children who rely heavily on AI for academic work demonstrate reduced persistence when facing challenges independently. The instant gratification model of AI interaction can undermine the patience and resilience that come from working through problems with human guidance and peer collaboration. The goal isn’t to create AI-phobic children, but rather to ensure they develop strong human capabilities before becoming dependent on artificial assistance. Children need to experience the satisfaction of independent discovery, the growth that comes from struggling with difficult concepts, and the social skills developed through collaborative learning with peers and mentors.

A Framework for Responsible AI Introduction

The solution isn’t prohibition but thoughtful, age-appropriate introduction with proper safeguards. Educational institutions should implement structured AI literacy programs that begin with understanding AI as a tool rather than a replacement for human thinking. Like driver’s education, these programs would combine theoretical knowledge with supervised practical experience.

An AI Eligibility Framework could assess children’s readiness across five key areas: technology understanding, impact awareness, ethics and responsibility, collaboration skills, and self-reflection. Only after demonstrating competency in these areas would children gain supervised access to AI tools, with full independence reserved for late adolescence when critical thinking skills are more fully developed. Schools should establish clear guidelines requiring human-first learning approaches, where students must demonstrate mastery through traditional methods before incorporating AI assistance. This ensures that AI enhances rather than replaces fundamental cognitive development.

The Opportunity Before Us

The evidence is crystal clear. Just as we protect children from driving cars until they demonstrate cognitive readiness, AI access should be restricted until children develop the sophisticated reasoning, ethical judgment, and emotional regulation necessary for responsible use. The current generation represents the first to grow up with widespread AI access, making urgent action essential to protect their developmental potential. We have an unprecedented opportunity to get this right from the beginning. Rather than waiting for studies documenting widespread developmental damage, we can implement protective measures now based on existing research about child development and the documented risks of early AI dependency.

No doubt, the world needs AI-literate citizens who can harness technology’s power while maintaining their humanity. And the opportunity before us is clear: age-appropriate AI restrictions now can preserve children’s capacity for independent thinking, creativity, and meaningful human connection. That’s the foundation for a truly intelligent future.

(Krishna Kumar is a technology explorer & strategist based in Austin, Texas in the US. Rakshitha Reddy is AI developer based in Atlanta, US)