The moment when children first encounter AI is going to arrive earlier and earlier.
They may ask it about something they do not understand, create an image, revise a sentence, or generate ideas. AI is no longer confined to research labs. It is becoming a tool close to homes and classrooms.
In December 2025, the Japanese government approved its first-ever "AI Basic Plan," setting a goal of over one trillion yen in combined public and private AI investment and targeting an AI utilization rate of 80% among the general population. The message is unmistakable: AI is becoming foundational infrastructure for all of society.
This reality makes one question unavoidable: when should children start learning about AI?
Children Already Know About AI
A survey conducted in September 2025 found that 79.3% of children from fourth grade through ninth grade were already aware of generative AI, and 39.3% had used it. Around 60% said they want to keep using AI in the future. Children are closer to AI than many parents realize — the question is whether that proximity comes with understanding.
The critical issue is the quality of their experience. There is a vast difference between casually using AI and knowing how to use it thoughtfully — understanding its capabilities, its errors, and its limits.
Japan's Ministry of Education Endorses Early Experience
Crucially, this is not simply a call to let children use AI freely. The guidelines emphasize learning that AI makes mistakes, that verifying information independently is essential, and that a critical perspective must be developed early. With the next revision of Japan's national curriculum planned for 2030 — and AI education widely expected to become compulsory — the transformation of school-based learning is already underway.
Three Capacities That Early AI Experience Builds
① Critical Thinking. The habit of questioning AI output — asking "is this actually right?" — is most reliably built through early, repeated experience. A child who has discovered firsthand that AI can be wrong carries that healthy skepticism into every subsequent encounter with information.
② Agency and the Ability to Ask Good Questions. AI answers questions; it cannot generate them. The quality of what AI produces depends entirely on the quality of the question asked. Children who practice formulating their own questions from genuine curiosity develop a skill that will define how effectively they can use AI throughout their lives.
③ Creativity. AI excels at recombining existing data, but originating something genuinely new remains a human strength. Children who make things — games, stories, art — while using AI as a tool learn to keep their own creative voice at the center. That capacity grows most naturally from hands-on making experiences in early childhood.
The Experience Gap Cannot Be Ignored
Access to early AI experience is not equal. Children in households with computers and internet connectivity can explore AI freely; those without such access cannot. This disparity in digital experience translates into gaps in AI literacy, which in turn feed into gaps in academic achievement, career options, and ultimately life outcomes. The division between those who can shape AI and those who are shaped by it is a social issue, not a personal one.
This is precisely why Digital Kodomo BASE provides a free space in Ota City, Tokyo, where children can explore computers, programming, and AI at no cost. Building a game, testing an AI tool, seeing what it gets wrong — these experiences are the foundation of genuine AI literacy. We want every child to have access to that foundation, regardless of their family's economic circumstances.