# Children's Overtrust and Shifting Perspectives of Generative AI

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.14511 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.14511/

## Key facts

- Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 22 Apr 2024.

## Built on by (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [AI Literacy in K-12 and Higher Education in the Wake of Generative AI: An Integrative Review](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.00079/) (2025)
- [EduZone: A Framework for Evaluating LLM Safety for K-12 Students and Teachers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.02024/) (2026)
- [Young children's anthropomorphism of an AI chatbot: Brain activation and the role of parent co-presence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.02179/) (2025)
- [How Children Design and Reason about Trustworthy AI Chatbots](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.25244/) (2026)
- [Persona and Persuasive Framing in AI Voice Agents: A 2×2 Field Experiment with Children](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.38782/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The capabilities of generative AI (genAI) have dramatically increased in recent times, and there are opportunities for children to leverage new features for personal and school-related endeavors. However, while the future of genAI is taking form, there remain potentially harmful limitations, such as generation of outputs with misinformation and bias. We ran a workshop study focused on ChatGPT to explore middle school girls' (N = 26) attitudes and reasoning about how genAI works. We focused on girls who are often disproportionately impacted by algorithmic bias. We found that: (1) middle school girls were initially overtrusting of genAI, (2) deliberate exposure to the limitations and mistakes of generative AI shifted this overtrust to disillusionment about genAI capabilities, though they were still optimistic for future possibilities of genAI, and (3) their ideas about school policy were nuanced. This work informs how children think about genAI like ChatGPT and its integration in learning settings.