Your Kid Might Be More Skeptical of AI Than You Are
Panoramic Parents
Your kid uses AI every week. Chances are you worry about that more than they do. But here is the twist: the generation raised on AI is starting to have second thoughts about it.
Gallup’s Voices of Gen Z study, published April 2026 with the Walton Family Foundation and GSV Ventures, surveyed 1,572 Americans ages 14 to 29 in February and March 2026. Half of them use AI at least weekly. That number barely moved from last year. But the feelings underneath it moved a lot.
The mood shifted fast
In 2025, 36% of Gen Z said AI excited them. This year, only 22%. Hopefulness fell from 27% to 18%. Anger rose nine points to 31%. And 42% now say AI will harm their ability to think carefully about information.
The standout line from the study: 8 in 10 say tools designed to do tasks quicker will make learning harder in the future.
Sit with that for a moment. Your kid may already sense the trade-off you worry about. The quick answer costs the hard thinking. They see it. You are not the only one in the house paying attention.
Tonight, ask and listen
This is an opening, not a lecture. Tonight, ask your teen one honest question: “What annoys you about AI?” Then listen. Do not fix. Do not debate. Just listen.
You might hear about friends who cannot write without a chatbot, or about jobs that might not exist when they graduate. And somewhere in that answer is your ally. House rules land better when your kid already believes the technology needs guardrails. They are halfway there. Meet them there.
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Panoramic Parents | Raising the First AI Generation. PanoramicParents.com
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