Parents and children both spend time with Artificial Intelligence (AI) assistants and agents, according to Curtin University ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child chief investigator Tama Leaver.

AI-driven personalisation is developing well in our digital devices and platforms, analysing what our favourites are and what we want by recommending entertainment, services and goods, often presenting these as ‘for you’ pages.

According to an AI search platform, Algolia, AI-powered personalisation customises user experiences according to their choices, behaviours and requirements.

Professor Leaver said the algorithms are doing lots of heavy lifting through AI to design content choices for children.

Parental concerns are on the rise at the same time as their children’s screen times, especially as we are just one click away from the next YouTube video.

He strongly advised us to be careful with our choices in consuming content, as AI is always a step ahead of the recommendations.

Children often look up to their parental figure as an example, therefore it is crucial to establish a limit with devices even with work or entertainment.

The Australian Government and the World Health Organisation both agree that children between the ages of two and five should not spend more than an hour a day in front of screens and that children younger than two should not use screens at all.

Technology is taking over our little ones. Photo: Alyse Wong.

Curtin University School of Education associate lecturer Emma Cross said instead of focusing on the parents’ fears and anxieties on the issues, we should change our terminology and ask what children are doing on such devices.

“Parents are responsible for providing devices and deciding what the children do with them,” she said.

“They should co-view with their child and have a deep awareness of what the child is watching and recognise the limitations of this type of usage,” she continued.

Professor Leaver said parents should organise a reasonable screen time for children.

“Have a set period of times when screens are okay and times when screens aren’t.”

Children may often watch YouTube, TikTok or play digital games but digital technologies are also designed to foster young children’s creativity and development.

Mrs Cross emphasised that the young generation should be supported to use digital technology to explore their creativity, develop coding capabilities and collaborate with others.

Professor Leaver believes that AI offers beneficial routes in terms of educational learning, specifically a more efficient and accessible catering system for children with special needs and different learning abilities.