When leaders avoid the very tools they build, it should make us pause

Image/Canva: Alt-txt: A hand stopping another hand holding a sandwich with text above

If you walked into a restaurant and the chef admitted they’d never serve their food to their own children, what would you think? 

This is the dilemma we face with technology today. 

Many tech leaders have openly stated that they do not, and would not, allow their children to use social media. Some even go as far as choosing the Montessori educational model for their children, a model which is often characterised by minimal or no technology.

And yet, in the USA for example, a Common Sense Census shows that nearly one in five tweens (aged between nine and 12), say they use social media every day, despite regulations for most apps requiring users to be at least 13 years old. 

Will the same pattern emerge with AI?

According to The Alan Turing Institute (May 2025), about 22% of UK children aged 8-12 already use generative AI, primarily for creative play and learning. 

These young people will live most of their lives impacted by AI, yet they remain largely absent from training data, or even, decision-making processes about its use, development, and regulation.

So, as we build AI tools in critical areas such as health, education, food, transport, safety etc, we must remember that social platforms such as Reddit, Facebook etc are significant, foundational sources for AI training data. This makes it difficult to build truly inclusive AI systems when so many groups (including children) are missing from the training data. 

In addition, few families can opt out through alternatives like Montessori, making it all the more urgent that inclusion is built into the (AI) systems shaping theirs and our futures. 

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