Week 3 — Privacy & Ethics
Learning objectives
- Understand what data is collected when a teen uses an AI chatbot, AI-enabled app, or AI companion.
- Articulate the difference between legal and ethical use of AI.
- Make informed choices about which AI tools to use and what to share with them.
Core concepts
Free AI tools are rarely free. The price is usually data — your prompts, your uploaded files, sometimes your voice and face. On top of the privacy question sits an ethical one: AI companion chatbots are now widely used by teens, and recent research shows roughly three-quarters of teens have tried one, despite serious concerns about emotional reliance and safety for under-18s.
Discussion prompts
- When you type something into an AI chatbot, where do you imagine that text goes? Who might read it? How long is it kept?
- Are there things you’ve already shared with an AI that you wouldn’t want a teacher, employer, or future partner to read? (No one has to share specifics — just answer yes or no.)
- AI companion apps are designed to feel like friends. What’s the difference between a tool that helps you and a tool that wants you to keep coming back?
- If a free app uses your data to train its model, is that a fair trade? Would your answer change if the app were used by a 9-year-old?
At-home activity: “Privacy settings deep clean”
Pick the three apps each of you uses most that involve AI (this often includes Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, ChatGPT, Gemini, Character.AI, photo editors, or a smart speaker). For each one, together: 1. Open the privacy settings. 2. Find the section on “data used for training” or “improve our models” and decide whether to opt out. 3. Check what’s shared with third parties. 4. Review what’s stored in chat history and delete anything that doesn’t need to be there.
Make a simple shared note of what each of you changed. Re-check this list every six months.
Parent resource list
- Common Sense Media — Teens, Trust, and Technology in the Age of AI Companions — the research finding that ~75% of teens use AI companions and why this matters.
- Electronic Frontier Foundation — Student Privacy — rights-based perspective on data collection in schools and apps.
- UNESCO — Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence — the global ethical framework; readable summary at the top.
- Mozilla Foundation — Privacy Not Included — searchable reviews of consumer apps and devices by privacy risk.
Reflection
What’s one piece of personal information you’ve decided you’ll never put into an AI tool?