“AI promises to transform the lives of teenagers in many ways, inside and outside the classroom,” notes Allen. The book opens with diagrams that show how young people use generative AI and how they feel about it. (Confusingly, statistics presented just four pages apart differ dramatically and are presented without clarifying context: An opening uncited pie chart indicates that 41% of teens and young adults have never used generative AI, while a 2024 Common Sense Media survey in Chapter 1 gives a figure of 30%.) The introduction describes positive and negative examples of uses of AI, such as monitoring for warning signs of worsening mental health and the distressing discovery that early ChatGPT models “discussed suicide plans with young users and helped them write suicide notes.” Later chapters cover education (cheating concerns, personalized tutoring), deepfakes and cyberbullying (sextortion, the Take It Down Act), chatbots (app-based companions, unhealthy obsessions), leisure (personalized entertainment recommendations, more immersive gaming) and job market applications (developing “skills that AI cannot match,” career coaching). The clear sentences, text boxes, infographics, and stock photos with descriptive captions keep the flow of information organized. The chapters begin with real-life examples and quotations, followed by evenhanded explanations of the power, limitations, unintended consequences, and outright misuse of AI tools.
