Google plans to launch its Gemini artificial intelligence chatbot next week for children under 13 who have Google accounts managed by their parents, as technology companies compete to attract young users with AI products.
“Gemini apps will be available soon to your child,” the company told an email this week to the parents of an 8-year-old. “This means that your child can use Gemini” to ask questions, get help from school tasks and create stories.
Chatbot will be available to children whose parents use Family Link, a Google service that allows families to configure Gmail and opt for services like YouTube for their children. To create a children’s account, parents provide the technology company personal data, such as the name and date of birth of the child.
Gemini has specific protection measures for younger users to prevent Chatbot from producing certain insecure content, said Google spokesman Karl Ryan. When a child with a Family Link account uses Gemini, he added, the company will not use this data to train its AI.
The introduction of Gemini for children can accelerate chatbots use among a vulnerable population, while schools, colleges, companies, and other institutions deal with the effects of popular AI technologies. Trained in huge amounts of data, these systems can produce texts similar to humans and realistic -looking images and videos.
Google and other AI chatbots developers are in a fierce competition to capture young users. President Donald Trump recently urged schools to adopt these tools for teaching and learning. Millions of teenagers are already using chatbots as study assistants, writing coaches and virtual companions. Children’s groups warn that chatbots can pose serious risks to children’s safety. In addition, bots sometimes invent information.
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UNICEF, the United Nations Agency for Children, and other children’s groups have observed that AI systems can confuse, misinform and manipulate young children who may have difficulty understanding that chatbots are not human.
“AI Generativa has produced dangerous content,” Unicef’s global research office said in a publication on AI risks and opportunities for children. Google acknowledged some risks in their families email this week, warning parents that “Gemini can make mistakes” and suggesting that they “help your child critically think” about Chatbot.
The email also recommended that parents teach their children how to check Gemini’s answers. In addition, the company suggested that parents will remember their children that “Gemini is not human” and “should not enter sensitive or personal information in Gemini.”
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Despite the company’s efforts to filter inadequate materials, the email added that children “can find content you don’t want them to see.”
Over the years, technology giants have developed a variety of products, resources and safeguards for adolescents and children. In 2015, Google launched YouTube Kids, an independent video app for children who are popular among families with young children.
Other efforts to attract children online generated concerns between government authorities and children’s rights advocates. In 2021, the goal interrupted plans to launch an Instagram Kids service-a version of its Instagram application for children under 13-after the general prosecutors of several states send a letter to the company stating that the firm “historically failed to protect children’s welfare on their platforms.”
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Some prominent technology companies – including Google, Amazon, and Microsoft – have also paid multimillionaire fines to resolve government complaints that they violated the children’s online privacy protection law. This federal law requires that online services aimed at children to obtain parents’ permission before collecting personal information, such as residential address or a selfie, from a child under the age of 13.
With the launch of Gemini, children with google accounts managed by the family will be able to access chatbot initially alone. However, the company said it will warn parents and that they will be able to manage their children’s chatbot settings, “including disable access.”
“Your child will be able to access Gemini applications soon,” said the company’s email to parents. “We will also inform when your child access Gemini for the first time.”
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Ryan, Google’s spokesman, said the approach to providing Gemini to young users complies with the federal online privacy law of children.
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