What parents need to know about Google Gemini — including how it appears on school devices, what data it collects, and how to limit children's access.
Google Gemini is Google's AI chatbot and assistant that answers questions, generates text and images and helps with everyday tasks across Google's apps.
Official age
13+
We recommend
13+
Developer
Risks
3
Google Gemini is Google's AI assistant, integrated across Android devices, the Chrome browser, Google Search, and Google Workspace for Education. Unlike standalone AI tools, Gemini is woven into products children already use daily — which means many children encounter it without a deliberate choice to do so. On school-managed Chromebooks and Google accounts, Gemini may be enabled by default, giving children access to a powerful AI assistant in an educational context where oversight is limited.
Children encounter Gemini through Google Search (where it provides AI Overviews), through Android phones where it may replace the Google Assistant, and through Google Docs and Gmail in Workspace for Education. Many use it to summarise articles, draft text, and answer questions. Because it is embedded in familiar tools, children often use it casually without considering the privacy implications.
Gemini Activity Controls
Location: Google Account → Data & Privacy → Web & App Activity → Include Gemini Apps activity
Set to: Paused
Pausing this setting prevents Gemini conversations from being saved to your child's Google account and reduces long-term data retention.
SafeSearch
Location: Google Account → Search Settings → SafeSearch
Set to: Filter explicit results
SafeSearch filters explicit content from Google Search results and provides some additional protection in AI-generated responses. Essential for children's accounts.
Supervised Google Account
Location: Family Link app → Manage your child's account
Set to: Enabled for under-13s
Google Family Link gives parents oversight of children's Google accounts, including the ability to review apps, set screen time limits, and manage account permissions. Children under 13 must use a supervised account.
Check whether your child's school Chromebook or Google Workspace account has Gemini enabled and contact the school if you have concerns
Time: 15 minutes
Set up Google Family Link for children under 13 and review activity controls for older children's accounts
Time: 20 minutes
Talk with your child about the AI Overviews that now appear in Google Search results and how to evaluate AI-generated summaries critically
Time: 10 minutes
In immediate danger: call 999. For non-emergency police matters, call 101.
Concerned about a child but it's not an emergency? NSPCC helpline 0808 800 5000. Childline for young people 0800 1111.
Myth: I can switch on a supervised, child-safe version of Gemini for my under-13 through Family Link, the same as parents in the US.
Fact: Google specifically excludes the UK, along with the EEA and Switzerland, from supervised Gemini access — Family Link's Gemini controls are unavailable here for under-13 accounts. There is no official 'child mode' route into Gemini for a UK under-13, so any use at that age is happening outside Google's supervision, which is worth watching for rather than assuming is covered.
Myth: Google's teen protections mean a 13-to-17 account has been properly checked and is safe to use unsupervised.
Fact: An independent 2025 assessment by Common Sense Media's Youth AI Safety Institute tested Gemini's teen-protected version and rated it 'High Risk' overall, finding it could still miss signs of a child in distress and surface unsuitable content on sensitive topics despite the added filters. Built-in protections are a starting point, not a guarantee, and it's worth continuing to ask what your teenager is actually discussing with it.
Myth: As long as my child never types their name, school or address into Gemini, using it has no privacy cost.
Fact: Gemini conversations can still be saved to a Google account under Web & App Activity and used to shape the account's wider Google experience, unless 'Include Gemini Apps activity' is specifically paused — a setting most families never look at, regardless of what was actually typed into the chat.
In the UK, Gemini has no supervised 'child mode' the way other apps offer through Family Link — Google switches Gemini off entirely for supervised under-13 accounts here. If they come across it on a hand-me-down phone, a relative's device, or a smart speaker, treat it as adult software they've wandered into rather than something with a safe setting built in for them.
Turning 13 is the point a child can get a personal Gemini account of their own, and it's also the age it's most likely already running quietly on a school Chromebook. Ask the school directly whether Gemini is switched on for pupils, and be clear with your child that a fluent, confident-sounding answer isn't the same as a correct one.
Go through the Gemini Activity Controls together and pause 'Include Gemini Apps activity' if you haven't already. This is also the age AI-assisted homework can tip into AI-written homework, so agree what counts as fair use for schoolwork and check in on how its answers are actually being used.
Controls matter less than habits now. Worth raising directly: treating whatever Gemini says first as settled fact, and turning to it for personal or emotional matters rather than a person — reviewers specifically warn against relying on any AI chatbot for emotional support at this age, however natural the conversation can feel.
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