Children in the Gulf now meet AI at school, on their phones and in the apps they already use. Many parents are unsure what is sensible, what counts as cheating and what the new rules mean for their family. This guide goes through the question in five steps. Some of the answers are habits you can start at home tonight.
Is AI safe for my child?
Homework, chatbots, AI companions, privacy and the new rules: a calm guide for Gulf parents and students.
The short answer
It can be, with guidance, much as the internet can. Teach children to treat AI as a helper that can be wrong, not as an authority. Agree with them, and with their school, when AI may be used for homework. Keep an eye on how much they lean on chatbots for company. Keep names, photos and locations out of chats, and turn on the parental controls that apps offer. In the UAE, a law in force since January 2026 requires platforms to add age checks and parental controls, with a deadline of January 2027, and schools have their own rules on AI.
Step by step
Step 1: How should my child think about AI?
As a helper that can be wrong. Chatbots can explain, quiz and draft, but they can also make up facts and state them with total confidence, which is called a "hallucination". The International AI Safety Report 2026 also says early evidence suggests that relying on AI tools can weaken critical thinking, and can encourage "automation bias", the habit of trusting a machine's answer without checking it. A few habits help at any age: ask the tool where its information comes from, open those sources, and check anything important with a teacher, a book or an official site. Schools are teaching this too. From the 2025–26 school year, the UAE made AI a school subject in public schools from kindergarten to Grade 12, and about a quarter of the curriculum is about ethics.
From our pages
- Fears vs Reality: Will we lose control of AI?Why keeping a person in charge matters, and how automation bias works.
- AI in everyday life in the Gulf: health, learning, getting around, and dealing with governmentHow AI is already showing up in Gulf schools.
- Terms explained
Step 2: When is using AI for homework cheating?
The school's rules decide this, so start there. Under a manual the UAE Ministry of Education issued in February 2026, generative AI is not allowed in school for students under 13 or below Year 7. AI is banned in formal exams, and handing in AI-generated work as your own, without saying so or without the teacher's approval, counts as a breach. In October 2026 Sharjah's private-education authority asked schools to set out how AI may be used in assignments, projects and assessments, and expects students to disclose AI use when needed. Dubai's KHDA said in October 2026 that it is preparing its own AI rules for schools. In Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of Education and SDAIA issued a guide for students, teachers and parents in January 2025. At home, one simple test works: if your child cannot explain the work in their own words, the AI did too much of it. Ask the school for its AI policy in writing.
From our pages
- In the news
- Sharjah sets out a reference and ethical framework for AI in schools · 13 October 2026
- Quick answers
- Terms explained
Step 3: What if my child treats a chatbot like a friend?
Keep talking about it rather than banning it outright. The International AI Safety Report 2026 notes that "AI companion" apps now have tens of millions of users, and that a small share of those users show patterns of increased loneliness and reduced social engagement. Researchers are still studying the longer-term effects. Some companies have tightened access for young users. Since 25 November 2025, Character.AI has not allowed under-18s to have open-ended chats with its characters. In January 2026 Meta said it would pause teens' access to its existing AI characters worldwide, starting in the following weeks, while it builds a new version. Its general assistant stays available to teens, with age-appropriate protections. UNICEF's updated guidance on AI and children (version 3, December 2025) now covers AI companions used by children. Watch for signs that a chatbot is replacing people, such as staying up late to chat or pulling back from friends. Remind your child that a chatbot is not a counsellor. For real worries, the right people are a parent, a teacher, a school counsellor or a doctor.
From our pages
- AI Camps: Risks, and the conditions they would needOver-reliance and companionship, and what is still being studied.
- If AI becomes far more capable than us, how would we live alongside it? A calm guide to a speculative questionThe two everyday human-side risks: automation bias and emotional reliance.
- Quick answers
- Terms explained
Step 4: What should my child never share with AI?
Full names, photos, school names, home locations, ID numbers and passwords, whether their own or other people's. The UAE Ministry of Education's 2026 manual bans entering personal data about students, teachers or parents into AI tools, including names, photographs and contact details. The UAE's Child Digital Safety law, Federal Decree-Law 26 of 2025, bars platforms from collecting or using the personal data of children under 13 without verifiable consent from a parent, and restricts targeted advertising to children. Photos need extra care because AI can turn a real picture into a fake one. Dubai's free GenDubAI guide for parents, launched in October 2026, includes advice for when a child creates or shares a fake image of a real person. Make it a family rule to ask before uploading any picture of a person.
From our pages
- Fears vs Reality: Will AI be used to watch us?Will AI be used to watch us? The full article.
- In the news
- Quick answers
- Terms explained
Step 5: What controls can I turn on, and what do the new rules require?
Many apps now have family settings. Since September 2025, ChatGPT has let parents link their account to a teen's (ages 13 to 17). Parents can then set quiet hours, turn off image creation and opt the teen out of model training. They may also get an alert if OpenAI's systems and trained reviewers see signs of a serious self-harm risk. In January 2026 OpenAI began rolling out age prediction on ChatGPT, which estimates whether an account belongs to someone under 18 so that teen protections apply automatically. Google lets parents decide through Family Link whether a child with a supervised Google account can use Gemini, where it is offered, and says its filters are "not perfect". The settings vary by country, so check inside each app. In the UAE, the Child Digital Safety law came into force on 1 January 2026, and platforms have until January 2027 to comply unless the Cabinet extends the deadline. It covers everyone under 18. It requires age checks and parental controls, including daily time limits, and it expects parents to use those controls. A Child Digital Safety Council chaired by the Minister of Family coordinates the work. Under Cabinet Resolution 106 of 2026, issued in June 2026, social media accounts are for users aged 15 and over, and platforms have 12 months to comply. Neither text singles out AI chatbots.
From our pages
- The GCC AI landscape in 2026: a country-by-country guideRules and principles in each GCC state.
- Terms explained
What we don’t know yet
- Whether the UAE's detailed rules under the Child Digital Safety law will mention AI chatbots or companions. The risk classification for platforms and the penalties are still to come. When we checked on 24 October 2026, we had not found them published.
- How well age checks will work in practice, and whether the parental-control features described here are all offered in the Gulf.
- What growing up with AI companions does to children over time. Researchers are still studying it.
- What Dubai's school rules will say and when they will take effect, and whether other Gulf education ministries will publish guidance for families. When we checked on 24 October 2026, we had found guidance for families from the Saudi ministry and classroom rules from the UAE ministry, but no guidance for students or parents from Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait or Oman.
Read next
- Fears vs Reality: Will we lose control of AI?Why a person should stay in charge, at home as at work.
- Fears vs Reality: Will AI be used to watch us?Privacy and AI: the full article.
- AI in everyday life in the Gulf: health, learning, getting around, and dealing with governmentWhat AI is already doing well in Gulf schools and homes.
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