Mobicip interview series for Safer Internet Day 2026 · Part 1 of 8
What Parents Must Know About AI
Watch the recording on YouTube
Summary
Anitha Swaminathan of Mobicip opens the series by asking what parents and children should understand about AI, what it can offer them, and what the hidden risks are.
I say I’m not against AI and not against children using it. What I’m against is giving children free access to AI technologies with no controls.
Key points
- Companies are responsible for building technology that keeps children safe no matter what they do with it.
- Parents need to be able to understand how their children are using AI.
- Access should be matched to a child’s age and level of maturity, so that children aren’t exposed to technologies before they’re ready.
Speakers
- John Zoltner Guest
- Anitha Swaminathan Interviewer, Mobicip
Transcript
The wording is as spoken, with punctuation and obvious errors corrected. See “How this transcript was made” above.
[00:00:00]Anitha Swaminathan: At childsafety.org your main focus is on AI awareness. So what should parents and children understand about AI? What can it offer them and what are some of the hidden risks and dangers?
[00:00:25]John Zoltner: Sure. I think I’m not against AI and I’m not against children using AI, but I’m very against going into use of AI, providing children free access to AI technologies without any controls. And I think both the companies have a responsibility for creating the technology in a way that keeps children safe. So that children, no matter what they do, the technology won’t behave in a way that that will damage them, that will cause violence or help other people cause violence to children. And also that parents are able to understand how their children are using it. And that the use of access or the access to AI technologies is paired with the level of both age and level of maturity of the child. So that children aren’t exposed to technologies before they’re ready to be able to use them in a way that doesn’t cause harm to themselves or to other people.