Should I ban my child from using ChatGPT?

A blanket ban in 2026 tends to reduce trust rather than solve anything. The more effective route is teaching how to use it: the child thinks first, checks against AI second, and critically verifies the answer third. That is the pattern used in schools where centralised programmes already exist.

At what age can a child start working with ChatGPT?

OpenAI rules require ages 13+, and under 18 with parental consent. In practice, meaningful use starts around ages 11 to 12 with adult supervision, and with rules from day one: what may be copied, what may not, which sources to verify.

Will AI replace programmers — is it still worth teaching a child to code?

AI is excellent at short snippets but weak at understanding the context of a whole system. Demand for programmers remains strong — what changes is the profile: design, evaluation, debugging, and AI output validation are now the valued skills. Those are precisely the skills trained by coding with an instructor, not by copying answers.

Where is the line between AI helping and AI doing the work for the child?

A simple test: can the child explain the answer in their own words and rewrite it without AI? If yes, AI was an assistant. If not, AI replaced thinking — and over the long run that works against the child.

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AI Lands in Schools: 80,000 Slovak Teachers Get ChatGPT Licences — and What the Data on Kids Actually Shows

In May 2026, Minister Drucker announced that around 80,000 Slovak primary and secondary school teachers will receive ChatGPT Edu licences as part of a partnership with OpenAI. At the same moment, the Czech Republic is dealing with a parallel reality: per the Scio Research AI Kompas 2025–2026 study, ChatGPT is used regularly by 84% of Czech and 83% of Slovak students.

The students are already there — teachers and parents are catching up. In this piece we collect what a parent needs to know in 2026: what is changing in schools, what the research says about the cognitive effects of AI on children, and where the line runs between a useful assistant and passive copying.

What the Scio Research AI Kompas 2025–2026 Survey Revealed

The survey ran from December 2024 to March 2025 and covered 3,406 students, 776 parents, 364 teachers and 21 school leaders in the Czech Republic. ChatGPT is used regularly by 84% of Czech and 83% of Slovak students. AI is used for school purposes by 69% of Czech students. Pupils are ahead of teachers and parents — they have spent more time with the tool and go deeper into it. 69% of Czech parents are broadly positive but ask for transparent rules at school.

Pupils are ahead of teachers and parents — they have spent more time with the tool and go deeper into it.

What Is Changing in Schools: the Slovak Decision and the Czech Search

The Slovak Ministry of Education has launched a partnership with OpenAI: around 80,000 teachers are getting ChatGPT Edu licences. At the same time, the curricular reform that becomes binding for all Slovak primary schools from September 2026 introduces AI literacy as one of the new cross-cutting literacies. Czechia is still working through individual school initiatives and DigiKoalice materials — there is no central national programme yet.

Cognitive Debt: What the Research Shows About AI Effects on the Developing Brain

A 2025 MIT Media Lab study (Kosmyna et al.) on essay writing showed that participants who wrote with ChatGPT had visibly lower brain activity on EEG than those who wrote unaided. Months later, the AI group remembered less of what they had written. The authors call this cognitive debt — the brain unlearns work the tool does for it. The best outcomes were in the group that wrote on their own first and only then layered AI on top.

The brain unlearns work the tool does for it.

Free First Coding Lesson for Kids at Algonova

At Algonova we teach children aged 8 to 17 to code with intent: figure it out yourself first, use AI as an assistant only afterwards. Regular classes run either in small groups of up to 10 students or one-on-one with an instructor — the parent decides. The first trial lesson is always individual, 60 minutes, online and free. The child leaves with a finished mini-project, not a theoretical lecture.

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FAQ: AI and Children in School 2026

Sources: Scio Research AI Kompas 2025–2026, Pravda (Minister Drucker on the OpenAI partnership, May 2026), minedu.sk (state educational programme 2026), Kosmyna et al. MIT Media Lab 2025 (Your Brain on ChatGPT), DigiKoalice (CZ), OpenAI age-of-use policies.