We live in a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence. AI is no longer limited to chatbots or futuristic ideas; it is becoming part of the information we read, the products we use, and the way people work. As AI becomes more common, one skill is becoming increasingly valuable: the ability to recognize when something may have been generated or substantially influenced by AI and to think critically about the information presented to us.
How much of the web is AI?
Recent research from the Pew Research Center demonstrates how quickly this change has occurred. Pew analyzed nearly 490,000 English-language webpages collected from the Common Crawl archive between January 2021 and July 2026. In its July 2026 snapshot, about 10% of webpages showed significant signs of AI authorship. In comparison, the proportion was around 1% to 2% in the early 2020s, depending on the type of webpage. More strikingly, when pages that were published before ChatGPT's release are excluded, more than one-third of webpages published after ChatGPT's release show signs of AI authorship.
These numbers do not mean that every page identified by the study was completely written by AI. Pew's analysis looks for statistical signs that text was written or substantially edited by AI. Nevertheless, the trend demonstrates how quickly AI-assisted writing has spread across the modern internet. And webpages are only one part of the picture. AI is increasingly involved in music, advertising, design, software, products, and services. The question is therefore no longer simply whether AI exists online. The question is whether people can recognize when they are encountering AI-generated or AI-assisted material and evaluate it appropriately.
Learning, not just finishing
Children are especially important in this discussion because they are growing up alongside this technology. A student can use AI to write an essay, complete an assignment, or solve a problem in seconds. The immediate result may look successful, but the student may have missed the opportunity to actually learn the material. The purpose of an assignment is not always just to produce a finished paper. Often, the process of researching, writing, making mistakes, revising, and thinking through a difficult problem is the education itself.
This concern is not merely theoretical. Stanford University's 2026 AI Index reports that four out of five U.S. high school and college students now use AI for school-related tasks, while many schools have not established clear policies governing its use. The solution should not simply be to tell children that AI is forbidden. Instead, they should learn how to use it responsibly while still developing the ability to think and work independently.
Question everything, protect everything
Critical thinking becomes even more important when children encounter information outside the classroom. The internet contains scams, misinformation, manipulated media, impersonation, and increasingly sophisticated AI-generated content. Something that looks professional or convincing is not automatically true. Children should learn to stop and ask questions before believing, sharing, or acting on something they encounter online.
This principle is reflected in Google's Be Internet Awesome program, which teaches children to “think critically before acting online” and to recognize that people and situations online are not always what they appear to be. The program also emphasizes protecting personal information and communicating responsibly.
Online privacy and security are equally important. Children should understand that personal information has value and should not automatically be shared with websites, strangers, or online services. They should also learn basic password security. A strong password should be difficult to guess, should avoid obvious personal information such as names or birthdays, and should not be reused across multiple accounts. Google's online-safety curriculum specifically teaches children to create strong passwords and to avoid using the same password on multiple sites.
Knowing when to ask for help
Another important lesson is knowing when to ask for help. If a child encounters something frightening, threatening, manipulative, or otherwise uncomfortable online, they should not feel embarrassed or afraid to tell a trusted adult. That could be a parent, teacher, coach, counselor, relative, or another responsible adult.
This is something that has personal significance to me. My cousin was subjected to people online telling her to commit suicide, and the situation became extremely serious. She did not talk about what was happening, and eventually she required intensive mental-health care. I do not use this example to suggest that children who keep problems to themselves will automatically end up in a psychiatric facility. That is not the lesson. The lesson is that talking to someone can provide an opportunity for adults to recognize a serious situation and intervene before it becomes even worse.
A tool, not a replacement for judgment
AI also makes this responsibility more important because its influence is expanding into areas where mistakes can have serious consequences. AI is already being used in scientific research and medicine. Stanford's 2026 AI Index documents growing applications of AI in scientific discovery and healthcare, while also emphasizing that many systems still require validation and stronger evidence before their results can safely be relied upon. If future generations become accustomed to accepting computer-generated answers without questioning them, the consequences could extend far beyond a bad school assignment.
None of this means that artificial intelligence is inherently harmful. AI can be an extremely useful tool for learning, creativity, research, and problem-solving. The danger comes when people stop thinking for themselves and begin treating AI output as automatically correct. A calculator can help someone solve a math problem, but understanding mathematics is still valuable. A search engine can provide information, but knowing how to judge that information is still necessary.
AI should be treated in much the same way: as a tool, not a replacement for judgment.
Ultimately, children need more than instructions about what they should and should not do online. They need the skills to make good decisions when nobody is standing over their shoulder. They should learn to question what they see, protect their personal information, use technology responsibly, recognize potentially harmful situations, and speak to a trusted adult when they need help.
We cannot completely remove children from the risks of the modern internet, nor should the goal necessarily be to do so. The better goal is to prepare them for it. In a world where artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish from human-created material, teaching children to think before they believe, share, or act may be one of the most valuable forms of online safety we can give them.