Skills for an AI World: Insights from children in five African countries

Key Findings

• — Children use AI chiefly through chatbots such as ChatGPT and Meta AI for schoolwork, information and tasks; few report companion-like use, though a minority describe talking to AI when alone (a 16 to 17-year-old in Senegal: 'dialogue with AI. When I am alone')
• — In the companionship scenario, children valued a non-judging listener but named sycophancy unprompted ('It will never tell you it's wrong') and the risk of inaccurate responses to a sad message
• — Children in several countries voiced worry about becoming dependent on AI, and a 9 to 12-year-old in Mozambique articulated a view raised across the consultations that someone who needs support 'should talk to a friend'
• — Most participants said AI cannot be fully trusted because it can give false information; older adolescents engaged with AI more precisely and worried about future job losses
• — The paper recommends that AI-related skills and competencies be taught alongside emotional intelligence and human relationships, and calls on technology companies to design for children

Methodology Notes

Qualitative: 13 hybrid consultations with 97 children aged 9 to 17 selected purposively across five African countries, January and February 2026, using scenario-based discussion; thematic analysis by the Innocenti team plus an expert consultation. Small, non-representative sample; the paper cites earlier UNICEF cross-country survey work for prevalence figures. Publication month September 2026 (exact day not stated; PDF metadata 2026-09-15; CC BY 4.0). Verified by fetching the report page and the 44-page paper PDF directly (both HTTP 200; the Innocenti reports index still returns 404); quotes read from the PDF text.

Sources