Google: “You cannot imagine the use of AI by minors without parental guidance”

Although he Safer Internet Day was on February 10, the importance of being vigilant while browsing the web is a matter of 365 days a year. It is a major concern for Latin American Internet users and according to figures from Google “what is cyberbullying” and “what is grooming” were the most popular searches made by Peruvians on social networks in 2025.

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-How does artificial intelligence change the security approach? Is it safe for children to interact with AIs?

Artificial intelligence presents many opportunities, but when we talk about children and adolescents there must always be adult supervision. Can’t imagine the use of artificial intelligence by minors without the guidance of parents or caregivers, where adults act as digital mentors, helping to distinguish risks from opportunities, because children do not yet have the maturity or life experience necessary to determine them themselves and use these tools responsibly.

-Countries like Australia have implemented bans on social media for those under 16 years of age, something that other nations are considering imitating. What is your position regarding these restrictions?

In Google We believe that prohibiting access to minors under 16 years of age is not the most appropriate way to address the problem, because this leaves young people without prior training or preparation for the digital life that they will face later, while it makes them lose the opportunities that their peers in other countries had, in which they were exposed to the digital environment.

Instead, we find it more appropriate to combine parental control tools with education and continuous support, which gives them the knowledge, progressively, to be able to navigate safely and responsibly.

-Prohibiting is easy, training and educating is more difficult.

Exactly. But training is necessary to form responsible and empathetic digital citizens. Those qualities are essential for a secure digital environment.

-To close, what would be the main advice you would give to parents?

Parents have a duty to teach not only how to use the internet safely, but also how to be good digital citizens, who are respectful, empathetic, and able to distinguish true from false information.

But they must also train themselves. It is not possible that only technology companies have responsibility. Parents must seek tools, education and information to adequately accompany their children on this digital journey.

-They have to learn to be able to teach.

Exactly. Learning is an essential part of the process and there are no shortcuts when it comes to educating in the digital environment.