Parenting Journal · Volume 1 · Issue 2 · Licensed source edition
Children’s susceptibility to content generated by artificial intelligence
Originally published 2026-03-18 · Technology in society
Elsevier BV · DOI 10.1016/j.techsoc.2026.103303 ↗
AI / system type
Generative AI text/image stimuli / experimental task
Child-facing evidenceExamines children or child-focused systems. Transfer to everyday family life must be assessed separately.
The AI connection
Children judged human versus generative-AI images and text; the SmartBot was an explanatory narrative, not a live conversational model.
Why this reading matters
Provides direct age-specific evidence on children’s source discernment rather than relying only on adult assumptions about AI literacy.
Editorial reading guide · Trust
How well can children distinguish human-created from AI-generated images and text?
The experiment asks whether children can identify AI-generated material. It supports discussion of source checking while keeping observational home-use correlations separate from causes.
Study context
Thirty-seven children and 49 adults; parent-reported home technology use
Age / stage: Children aged 6–10 years; adult comparison aged 18–34
Read with three questions
- What AI-generated and human-created stimuli did children compare?
- How did the fictional SmartBot introduction shape the task?
- Why does the home-technology association not show that screen use caused lower discernment?
Keep the limits in view
The child sample was small and relatively affluent, and a SmartBot narrative introduced AI. Stimulus selection and the experimental setup constrain generalization; home-use associations are not causal.
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Original authorship, publication date, journal and DOI are preserved. This issue’s TRICK placement and reading questions are editorial additions, not claims made by the original authors.
Allison Langer; Steven Martinez; Peter J Marshall; Jason Chein (2026). Children’s susceptibility to content generated by artificial intelligence Technology in society. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2026.103303
Permissions checked against the saved article notice; repository publication notices screened 2026-11-04. This is not a new peer-review decision. The source authors and publishers are not represented as endorsing this issue.