Generation AI starts early

The first generation of children growing up with artificial intelligence is already here. From AI-enabled toys to generative learning and communication tools, these technologies are reaching children during the earliest and most formative years of life—from birth to 8 years—when relationships, play, language, and health shape the foundations for lifelong learning and well-being. The question is no longer whether AI will shape childhood, but how to ensure it does so in ways that support healthy development from the very beginning while preserving the core of what makes us human.

The Generation AI Starts Early series examines how AI is entering children’s everyday lives and what this could mean for their development and future trajectories. The series also explores the guardrails, policies, and design principles needed to ensure that, as babies and children grow up in an AI world, the human relationships and experiences that underpin healthy development remain central.