Over half of 8-year-olds in S’pore have used AI

SINGAPORE – More than half of eight-year-olds in Singapore have used artificial intelligence (AI) tools, with usage rising sharply by ages 10 and 13.

The most popular app among them is ChatGPT.

By age 10, more than seven in 10 children have used AI tools, and by age 13, more than nine in 10 have done so.

These findings come from a new study by Dr Xuejiao Chen, senior scientist at A*STAR’s Institute for Human Development and Potential, and Professor Jean Yeung, paediatrics professor at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine from the National University of Singapore (NUS).

The study examined how children’s AI usage patterns are linked to family socioeconomical status. Its findings were presented at the Population Association of Singapore’s Annual Conference held at NUS on May 21.

Prof Yeung told The Straits Times that this study gives Singapore a first national picture of how children are using AI, and offers insights into how early they are doing so.

The study is based on nationally representative data from 2,985 children aged eight to 13 from the Singapore Longitudinal Early Development Study (SG-Leads).

Researchers said the findings come as AI tools are becoming increasingly embedded in children’s daily lives, and highlighted the need to pay closer attention to how they are engaging with AI, rather than simply whether they have access to the technology.

Close to 16 per cent of children aged eight to nine were categorised in the study as “gaming-dominant”, which means they used AI mainly for gaming several times a week, and less so for other purposes.

Another 17 per cent of this age group were classified as “studying and gaming-dominant”, which meant they used AI around once to several times a week for both schoolwork and gaming.

Among those who use AI for studying, activities largely included translating languages, solving maths or science problems, and learning new concepts.

For children using AI for gaming, this includes games like AI Dungeon, a role-playing game where players use AI to create adventures for their character, and modified versions of the game Minecraft, where players can use Generative-AI. These AI-modifications can allow players to create companions to play alongside them, or connect with in-game AI assistants that answer questions.

Slightly more than 20 per cent were low-AI users who used AI tools less than once a week – or not at all – for either studying or personal interests.

A small 4.4 per cent were “high multi-purpose users”, who used AI tools more than once a week across a wide range of activities.

Similar patterns emerged among children aged 10 to 13, with 23.1 per cent of them using AI to study and game, while 5.3 per cent used it mainly for gaming.

Apart from ChatGPT, children aged eight to 13 largely used Meta AI and Google Gemini.

The study found that parental education level affected children’s AI usage patterns.

Parents with a university degree or higher were classified as having high education levels, those with post-secondary qualifications as medium, and those with secondary school education or below as low.

Among children aged 10 to 13, those whose parents had lower levels of formal education were more likely to use AI for leisure or general purposes, like gaming, rather than academic activities.

The findings suggest that children from families with higher socioeconomic status were not necessarily more likely to adopt AI tools or use them for academic purposes.

Prof Yeung said the next step would be to investigate how these AI behaviours relate to children’s achievement outcomes or social emotional outcomes.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) had said in May that educational AI tools will be gradually introduced under supervision for Primary 4 pupils in Singapore.

Dr Chen said though this is a good move, the study shows that half of eight-year-olds, which mainly correspond to Primary 2 children, are already using AI.

“At this stage, it is still important to have improved AI literacy among primary school students, their parents, and educators, especially since AI is still relatively new,” she said.

“I think a lot of parents do not understand how AI works, or how to safeguard their children when they use AI. So, general education and guidelines are still quite helpful at this early stage,” she added.

Prof Yeung said there is enough evidence that by Primary 4, most children are already using AI, whether the school is providing guidance or not.

“While it is good that the school is providing some guidance, I think it is very important to parents as well to know how it works, and see how schools can work with parents together to safeguard the internet.”

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