How young people in Austria use AI

Generative artificial intelligence has already become a routine part of everyday life for children and adolescents in Austria, a new report shows. The findings, released to mark this year’s Safer Internet Day, were made by members of EU Kids Online network.

The survey found that almost all 1,988 respondents had used generative AI in the previous month, most commonly to summarise or explain texts or to support school assignments.

As for the private life, AI played a noticeably smaller role, being used mostly for seeking leisure recommendations or advice on physical health. Creative uses such as image generation were less frequent, and only a very small minority reported experimenting with deepfakes.

More rules and guidance wanted

Young people consistently expressed a desire for clearer rules at school and more opportunities to learn about AI in class. They also raised concerns about data protection and misinformation in AI generated content. As Prof Sascha Trültzsch-Wijnen of the University of Salzburg explains,

we can show with our study that young people above all want to learn more about AI. In the classroom, the focus should be on correct and meaningful use.

The report Children, Adolescents and AI was produced by researchers from the University of Salzburg, the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria and the Salzburg University of Education Stefan Zweig as part of the EU Kids Online network - which includes institutions from 33 European countries.

Find out more from the original story, in German.