Mothers in the United States with school-age kids worry about the safety of artificial intelligence tools and their impact on children’s learning and development, concludes a report by Count on Mothers, a nonpartisan research firm that seeks to elevate mothers’ views.
The message from moms to schools on AI: Proceed with caution.
About a third of mothers surveyed last fall said they were open to schools using the technology, if there is proper oversight and safety standards are in place. Another fifth—20%—said schools should limit kids’ exposure to the technology. Roughly the same percentage—19%—fear AI companies put profit over children’s safety.
Just 6% of moms seemed to have few reservations about AI, saying they see it as a “positive force” and believe children should learn to use it, the survey found.
The survey results show “a powerful tension” between mothers’ uneasiness about AI and their belief that children need exposure to the technology, said Kaitlyn Regehr, an associate professor at University College London and a co-author of the study. “While they are concerned about how much emphasis schools are putting on ed tech, often with AI capabilities, at the same time, they think that their kid needs to learn how to use AI in order for them to be prepared for careers in the future.”
The survey of 2,290 U.S. mothers with at least one child under 21 living at home was conducted from Oct. 20 to Nov. 30, 2025, by Count on Mothers, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Chicago and University College London.
The findings jibe with a separate parent survey conducted last June.
In that annual PDK poll on the public’s views on education, nearly 7 in 10 parents said they did not support schools using AI software to store and analyze students’ grades, assessment data, or other personal information.
Regehr suggested that policymakers should take notice of the results of the Count on Mothers report. The mothers surveyed represent a broad range of political perspectives. About 30% identified as conservative, 28% as liberal, and 40% as moderate, though the report did not break out differences among those groups.
“Arguably, they can agree on very little, but one thing they can agree on is that they are concerned about what AI technologies mean for their children, specifically their children’s future,” Regehr said.
There’s been a growing amount of legislative activity around the idea of limiting the use of education technology, pushback that has picked up steam as the use of AI has expanded rapidly across society.
For instance, a bill introduced by state lawmakers in Utah seeks to require ed-tech tools to meet certain standards and prove their efficacy before they can be used in public schools, according to the Deseret News. Another Utah bill would limit screen time, including on ed-tech tools, particularly in early elementary school.
And last month, the Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing about education technology. Lawmakers heard from three expert witnesses selected by the panel’s chairman, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who argued that ed-tech tools offer a portal to platforms that harm children’s mental health.
Mothers struggle to understand how AI data collection works
About two-thirds of mothers said a top concern about AI is that children might be exposed to unsafe or inappropriate content. Just over half of moms worried their children would have difficulty distinguishing between “fake” and “real” information or people when they used AI.
About the same percentage felt uneasy about the tech’s impact on their child’s behavior and social-emotional well-being.
And nearly half—47%—are anxious about AI’s potential impact on learning and child development.
“Children are not accustomed to deciphering real from fake,” said a mother from Kentucky quoted in the report. “They cannot tell if they are talking to a real person or a bot.”
“Before we allow the tech industry to use our children as guinea pigs, much more research is needed,” a mother from New York said. “Simply calling something an educational tool does not make it one.”
At the same time, 43% of mothers report that their child uses AI for school, and 30% say they are using AI on a school-issued device.
What’s more, many moms say they don’t fully understand how AI tools collect or use their children’s data.
Thirty-nine percent of moms said they either didn’t know their children’s data was collected by technology tools or don’t understand how that data tracking works. About the same percentage—41%—said they try to stay informed about data collection but have gaps in their knowledge.
One in 5 said they understood the privacy risks of AI tools and knew how to protect their child’s data.
“AI can help kids learn,” a mom from Massachusetts said in the report. “But without strong safeguards, it can expose them to risks that can harm their safety and development.”
