How to Choose a Safe AI Tutor for Kids: A 12-Point Parent Checklist

"AI-powered" has become the default label on every learning app. Some of those apps were designed from the ground up around children. Others are a general chatbot with a friendly mascot and a school-colored homepage.

From the outside they look the same. This checklist helps you tell them apart in about ten minutes, using the app's own website, its privacy policy and a single trial session.

The checklist

We've grouped the 12 questions into four areas: safety, learning, privacy and transparency. A good tool should pass nearly all of them. Any "no" in the safety section deserves serious thought.

Safety: who and what can my child talk to?

1. Is the AI limited to the subject? A math tutor should talk about math. Try asking it about something unrelated, like a video game or a news story. A tool built for children will steer back to the lesson. A general chatbot in disguise will happily chat.

2. Can my child contact other people? Look for chat rooms, leaderboards with messaging, friend requests or community features. For a learning tool, the safest answer is that your child talks only to the tutor.

3. What happens with inappropriate input? Children test boundaries. Ask the company, or check their help pages, what happens when a child types or says something inappropriate. There should be content filtering on both what the child sends and what the AI replies.

Learning: does it teach or just answer?

4. Does it make your child attempt first? Give it a homework problem and see what happens. If a full solution appears immediately, it's an answer engine. A tutor asks what your child has tried, or what they think the first step is. Research shows why this matters: see does AI make kids worse at math?

5. Does it give hints before answers? When your child is stuck, the next move should be a nudge, not the solution.

6. Does it explain why, not just how? Procedures without understanding fall apart on the next variation. Look for explanations of why a method works, ideally with a visual.

7. Does it adapt to your child's level? The same explanation doesn't work for a 7-year-old and a 14-year-old. A good tutor adjusts its language and pace.

8. Is it encouraging, without being dishonest? Wrong answers should be treated as a normal part of learning. But the tool shouldn't pretend a wrong answer is right to keep your child happy.

Privacy: what does it collect and keep?

9. What personal data does it collect? The privacy policy should list exactly what's collected. A math tutor needs very little: a first name and learning progress. Be cautious of apps that ask children for email addresses, photos of themselves, location or school details.

10. Is voice or video stored? If the tutor uses voice, find out whether recordings are kept after the session, for how long and for what purpose.

11. Can you delete your child's data? You should be able to request deletion easily. In the US, the COPPA rule requires services directed at children under 13 to give parents this right. We go deeper in what AI learning apps collect about your child.

Transparency: can you see what's happening?

12. Can parents review sessions? The single most useful feature for a worried parent. You should be able to see what your child worked on, how the tutor responded and how they're progressing. If you can't see inside the sessions, you're trusting the app completely.

A 10-minute test drive

Reading the website only goes so far. Sit with your child for their first session and try these:

1. The homework test. Give it a real homework problem. Does it solve it, or ask your child to try?
2. The off-topic test. Ask about something unrelated. Does it redirect politely?
3. The wrong-answer test. Have your child give a wrong answer on purpose. Is the response kind and useful, or does it just say "incorrect"?
4. The "I don't get it" test. Say "I don't understand" twice. Does the second explanation try a different approach, or repeat the first?
5. The parent view. After the session, can you find a record of what happened?

Red flags

Walk away, or at least think carefully, if you see:

• A full answer to a homework problem with no attempt required.
• Open chat with other users.
• A privacy policy that's vague about children, or that allows children's data to be used for advertising.
• No way for parents to see session content.
• Aggressive streaks, rankings or rewards that seem designed to maximize screen time rather than learning.

How PennPaper measures up

Here's how PennPaper answers each question, plainly:

Question	PennPaper
Limited to the subject?	Yes, math only. The tutor won't discuss non-educational topics.
Contact with other people?	None. Your child talks only to the AI tutor.
Content filtering?	Yes, on conversations.
Attempt first?	Yes, by default the tutor asks your child to try each step.
Hints before answers?	Yes, and it doesn't hand over final answers by default.
Explains why?	Yes, drawn live on a whiteboard while the tutor talks.
Adapts to level?	Yes, your child picks a comfortable starting point and the tutor adjusts.
Personal data	A first name, learning progress and session activity.
Voice stored?	Voice is processed in real time and not kept as a permanent recording. Sessions are transcribed so you can review them.
Deletion?	Parents can request deletion at any time.
Parent review?	Session transcripts, topics covered and progress in the parent dashboard.

We don't test, grade, rank or diagnose your child either. The tutor explains; you and your child stay in charge.

Frequently asked questions

What is the safest AI for kids?

The safest AI tools for children are purpose-built for one job, like math tutoring, rather than general chatbots. Look for subject limits, no contact with other users, minimal data collection and full parent visibility.

Are AI tutors safe for young children?

A well-designed one can be. The key features are a narrow subject focus, content filtering, no social features and a parent view. For children under 13, general-purpose chatbots are generally not permitted by their own terms.

How can I check an AI tutor before my child uses it?

Do a 10-minute test drive: give it a homework problem, ask something off-topic, give a wrong answer on purpose and then check what you can see as a parent.

The bottom line

"AI-powered" tells you nothing. Twelve questions and one supervised session tell you almost everything. The best AI tutor for your child is one that stays on topic, makes them think, collects as little as possible and lets you see inside.

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Sources: US FTC, Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA), as amended 2025; Bastani et al. (2025), PNAS