HELSINKI, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- Nearly eight in 10 children and teenagers aged 11 to 17 in Finland use artificial intelligence (AI), highlighting an urgent need for safer AI environments and stronger digital literacy, according to a survey released on Thursday.
The survey, funded by Finnish children's organizations Itla and Digirauha, found that 78 percent of respondents aged 11 to 17 use AI, including 71 percent of pupils in grades four to six.
Mobile phones have become the primary gateway to AI, with 94 percent of young AI users accessing the technology on their phones. Nearly half said they use AI daily.
"More than half of the respondents said they had learned about AI by experimenting with it themselves," said Katri Vataja, CEO of Itla, stressing the importance of ensuring that AI development and use support children's safety, well-being and healthy development.
The survey also revealed AI's growing role in education. About 67 percent of respondents use AI to search for information, while nearly half turn to it for school assignments and homework.
Riikka Ihamuotila, chair of Digirauha, said teachers need adequate support, including further training, to adapt to the changes and ensure equal opportunities for students to develop AI literacy.
Vataja warned that many respondents reported receiving little guidance at school on AI's benefits, risks and rules of use, underscoring the need to strengthen AI-related knowledge and skills at an earlier age.
Beyond education, AI is also becoming part of young people's social lives. One in five respondents said they had discussed matters with AI that they did not want to share with others, while 7 percent said they turned to AI because they had no one else to talk to.
Meanwhile, young people's ability to identify AI-generated content appears to be struggling to keep pace with the technology's rapid adoption.
About one-third of respondents said they found it difficult to distinguish AI-generated images and videos, with the proportion approaching 40 percent among primary and lower secondary school pupils.
Ihamuotila described the ability to identify AI-generated content as an emerging essential civic skill, warning of broader implications for information reliability, information manipulation and democracy.
The nationwide survey was conducted from Sept. 14 to Sept. 29, with statistical analysis carried out by Finnish research organization E2 Research. ■
