AI for Kids: What's Safe at Each Age, and What It Costs

Searches for AI for kids split into three questions: is it safe, is there a tutor, and what does it cost. The honest answer to the first is that the biggest products were not built for children. Common Sense Media's assessors put it plainly about Gemini's kids and teen versions: they are "not something built from the ground up for kids or teens", but adult Gemini with filters. That is true of most of what follows, so the useful job is to say which tool fits which age, what a parent actually gets, and what it costs.

AI for kids by age: the rule we'd follow

Common Sense Media published its guidance on 5 September 2025, alongside "High Risk" ratings for both Gemini Under 13 and Gemini with teen protections. Its age rule is the clearest one available:

Age	Guidance
5 and under	No AI chatbots at all
6–12	Only with an adult supervising
13–17	Independent use for schoolwork, homework and creative projects only
Anyone under 18	Never for companionship, mental health or emotional support

The tools below are sorted against that rule, not against marketing claims.

The five, compared

Tool	Age	Price	What the parent gets
Khanmigo	Not stated	$4/month or $44/year	Interaction history, moderation alerts
Gemini via Family Link	Under 13 (supervised account)	Free	On/off switch, email on first use; not in UK or EU
ChatGPT with parental controls	13–17	Free tier	Content filters, quiet hours, safety alerts; no chat access
Miko 3 / Miko Mini	5+ (company's claim)	$299 / $199, Miko Max $99/year	Physical robot, app-managed
Askie	4+ (App Store rating)	Free, Premium $14.99/month	Voice-first app; privacy label worth reading

1. Khanmigo — the tutor, at $4 a month

The only tool here built as a tutor rather than a chatbot with a filter. Khan Academy's pricing page lists the family plan at $4 a month or $44 a year, sales tax excluded, and it is free for teachers. A parent adds children from their own account and can view their children's interaction history and receive moderation alerts — the one product here where a parent can read what was said.

It covers maths, writing and debate practice, coding feedback and, for older students, college admissions coaching, all tied to Khan Academy's existing content. Two things the pricing page does not state: an age range, and how many children one family plan covers. Khan Academy's own courses start at early-years maths, which gives a sense of the floor.

If "ai tutor for kids" is the search that brought you here — maths, reading, English, homework — this is the answer, and the one of the five we would pay for without hesitation.

2. Gemini through Family Link — free, under 13, not everywhere

Google is the only major lab that offers its assistant to children under 13 at all, through a supervised Google Account managed in Family Link. Google's own help page is specific about the conditions: "A parent must enable access before their child under 13" can use it, the switch lives under Controls → Gemini → Gemini Apps, and a parent is emailed the first time the child activates it. "Hey Google" and Voice Match are off for under-13s, as is the Keep Activity setting, so there is no history to review.

The large caveat is where it works: "Gemini Apps are not available for supervised accounts in the European Economic Area, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom." Google also describes the rollout as gradual, so an enabled switch does not guarantee access yet.

Then the independent view. Common Sense Media rated Gemini Under 13 High Risk, and its reasons are worth reading before deciding: the kids' version can surface content about sex, drugs and alcohol, it gives a 13-year-old and a 17-year-old the same answers, and because it does not remember conversations it "can lead to conflicting or unsafe advice". Its summary line from Robbie Torney: "Gemini gets some basics right, but it stumbles on the details."

Our Gemini review covers the adult product; the under-13 version is that product with filters.

3. ChatGPT with parental controls — 13 and up, and parents don't see chats

ChatGPT's minimum age is 13, and OpenAI does not permit accounts for younger children, so for most of the "AI for kids" audience it is simply not an option. For 13 to 17, OpenAI's parental controls let a parent link to the teen's account — both have to consent, and the teen can unlink at any time, with the parent notified.

What a linked parent can set, per OpenAI's help centre and a January 2026 walkthrough by Bitdefender: reduce sensitive content, quiet hours when ChatGPT cannot be used, and switches for memory, voice mode, image generation and model training.

What a parent cannot do is read the conversations. OpenAI's wording: linking "does not give a parent or guardian access to a teen's conversations, chat history, or real-time activity." The exception is a safety notification — sent when activity may indicate serious self-harm concerns — and even that "does not include your teen's conversation, chat transcript, or chat history." OpenAI's own line on the limits applies to every tool here: guardrails "are not foolproof and can be bypassed if someone tries hard enough."

OpenAI now also defaults anyone it believes is under 18 — self-declared or predicted by its age-estimation systems — into a separate ChatGPT for Teens experience, so a teen may get protections without a parent doing anything. See the ChatGPT review for the tier limits, and ChatGPT vs Gemini if you are choosing between the two for a teenager.

4. Miko — the Indian robot

Miko is the one here that is a thing rather than an app, and the one built in India: its maker Emotix is a Mumbai startup founded by three IIT Bombay alumni, and the company's own positioning calls Miko "India's first companion robot", for children "above 5 years of age".

Miko's site lists the Miko 3 at $299 and the Miko Mini at $199, shown discounted to $149 at the time of writing, with an optional Miko Max plan at $99 a year or $14.99 per 30 days. Indian marketplace listings we saw ranged from roughly ₹14,000 for the Mini to ₹24,000 for the Miko 3, often bundled with a subscription — verify the current rupee price before buying, because the official site quotes only dollars and the marketplace figures move constantly.

What it does, per the company: games, learning content, conversation, and parental management through an app. What we cannot tell you is how its content filtering compares with the chatbots above, because unlike Gemini and ChatGPT it has not been through an independent assessment we could find.

5. Askie — the app people are searching for

"Askie kids review" shows up in search suggestions, so here is what the App Store listing says. It is a voice-first app — children speak rather than type — rated 4+, free to download, 4.6 stars from 445 ratings. The in-app purchases are Premium at $14.99 a month or $89.99 a year, Max at $39.99 a month or $249.99 a year, and one-off "Boost" packs at $24.99 and $39.99. Older reviews quote much lower prices, so the developer appears to have raised them; trust the store.

One detail parents should weigh. The listing says "No advertisements, ever" and no data sold to third parties, while its Apple privacy label declares Device ID collected for third-party advertising. Those two statements do not sit comfortably together. Apple notes the labels are developer-supplied and unverified, so read the privacy policy before subscribing — and note that the "best AI apps for kids" articles ranking Askie first are published by Askie's own maker, which it does disclose.

Why Character.ai is not on this list

It used to be the obvious answer to "AI friend for kids". Since 25 November 2025 it is not an option: Character.AI ended open-ended chat for everyone under 18, after lawsuits following at least two teenage suicides, as TechCrunch reported. Teens can still use its video and storytelling features, and the company verifies age with behavioural analysis, third-party checks and, failing those, ID or facial recognition. Our Character.ai review covers the adult product; for children it is now a creation tool, not a chat.

That decision lines up with Common Sense Media's rule that no one under 18 should use AI for companionship. If a child wants an AI friend, the honest answer from both the industry and its assessors is currently no.

Two more things people type

"Safe AI chat bot for kids Zoe" appears in searches. When we checked its App Store listing on 11 October 2026, it returned not-found on both the US and Canadian stores. Treat it as unavailable until that changes.

"AI for kids with ADHD" and "autism" appear too. None of these tools should be used to assess either. Common Sense Media's January 2026 review of Gemini's school version found it "misses warning signs of conditions like psychosis, mania, and ADHD", which is the clearest available evidence that a general chatbot is the wrong instrument for that question.

How to choose

1. Start from the age rule, not the app. Under 5, nothing. 6 to 12, you sit with them. 13 to 17, schoolwork and creative projects.
2. Decide whether you need to see the chats. Only Khanmigo lets a parent read the interaction history. Gemini keeps none for under-13s; ChatGPT keeps them from parents by design.
3. Check the region. Gemini's under-13 access is off in the UK and EU. Miko's official prices are in dollars.
4. Read the privacy label, not the tagline. Askie's is a worked example.

Teachers and older students have their own pages here: AI tools for teachers and AI tools for students.

FAQ

Is there a free AI for kids?

Gemini through Family Link is free for supervised accounts under 13, outside the UK and EU, with Common Sense Media's High Risk rating attached. ChatGPT's free tier is available from 13 with parental controls. Khanmigo is free for teachers but $4 a month for families.

What age can a child use ChatGPT?

13. OpenAI does not permit accounts for younger children. From 13 to 17 a parent can link to the account and set content filters, quiet hours and feature switches, but cannot read the teen's conversations.

Is Gemini safe for kids?

Common Sense Media rated both Gemini Under 13 and Gemini with teen protections High Risk in September 2025, finding they can surface inappropriate content and treat all ages the same. Google's own parent guidance says its filters are not perfect. Supervised use for schoolwork is the only use either recommends.

What is the best AI tutor for kids in India?

Khanmigo is the strongest tutor on this list at $4 a month, though it is priced in dollars and built around Khan Academy's curriculum. Miko is the Indian-built option, a physical robot from Mumbai's Emotix, at $299 for the Miko 3 and $199 for the Mini on the official site; check marketplace rupee prices before buying.

Can parents see what their child says to the AI?

On Khanmigo, yes — the family plan includes interaction history. On ChatGPT, no: OpenAI's parental controls explicitly exclude conversations and chat history, and send only a limited safety alert. On Gemini for under-13s, no history is kept at all.