What happens when a scammer can sound like your child, impersonate your bank, create convincing deepfake videos, or manufacture intimate images to blackmail a teenager? AI isn’t inventing fraud, but it is making “human hacking” more convincing, personal, and harder to detect. In this article, we explore eight ways criminals are exploiting AI and share practical strategies parents, caregivers, and educators can use to protect themselves and their families.

What if the greatest AI divide in education isn’t about who has access to artificial intelligence, but who is being taught how to use it? As some students learn to think critically with AI, others may be left using it as a shortcut or navigating it without guidance. With Canadian research revealing significant gaps in teacher AI training, are we unintentionally creating two educational futures, one that prepares students for an AI-driven world and another that leaves them beh

Have you heard of PolyBuzz? With over 57 million estimated Android downloads, this AI companion app allows users to form simulated friendships and romantic relationships with AI characters. Conversations can become highly sexualized, raising concerns about privacy, emotional attachment, consent, and healthy relationships. Even if the app is removed, it remains accessible through a web browser. Here’s what parents and caregivers need to know before their kids encounter it.

Are screens helping students learn, or simply keeping them busy? Two new Australian classroom studies challenge the simplistic “screens are good versus screens are bad” debate. From classroom distractions and AI to critical thinking, privacy, and digital self-regulation, the research raises important questions for parents, caregivers, and educators. Perhaps the real issue isn’t how much technology students use, but whether it supports learning or replaces thinking.

Before you turn yourself into an AI Barbie doll or action figure, consider this: What happens to your photograph and personal information after you upload it? More importantly, what are your children learning by watching you participate? This popular adult AI trend raises important questions about digital privacy, consent, and the behaviours we model for our kids. Sometimes the most powerful digital literacy lesson isn’t what we tell our children, it’s what they see us do.

AI generated sports cards and posters are becoming popular with youth teams, but are we celebrating young athletes or exposing their digital identities? What happens when a child’s photo is uploaded to AI, their appearance is altered, or their name, age, school, and team are shared publicly? The technology is exciting, but privacy, consent, and safeguarding matter. Before your child’s next AI sports poster is created, here’s what every parent, coach, and sports club should kn

AI can help a student understand a difficult concept, challenge their thinking, and strengthen learning. It can also write the essay, solve the problem, and do the thinking for them. The challenge for education is no longer simply whether students should use AI, but whether it is supporting the cognitive work learning requires or replacing it. In this article, we explore why that distinction matters.

What if the smartphone isn’t the device that defines the next decade? Meta’s new Muse Charm, AI glasses, and OpenAI’s work with former Apple design chief Jony Ive may signal a growing race to build what comes next. For parents and caregivers, this shift could change far more than screen time. We explore the rise of personal AI, wearable technology, privacy, parental controls, and why “When should my child have their own AI?” may soon become an important question.

What happens when AI stops being something youth and teens open on a phone and becomes something they carry everywhere? Meta’s new Muse Charm offers a glimpse into a future of portable, personalized AI companions that can see, hear, remember, and respond. We look beyond the novelty to what parents and caregivers should know about privacy, emotional attachment, developmental readiness, and keeping the human element at the centre of AI.

What if one of the smartest career moves for today’s teens isn’t found in a university lecture hall, but in an apprenticeship, a toolbox, and a pair of work boots? As AI and robotics reshape the workplace, Canada is also facing a growing need for skilled tradespeople. We explore why the trades deserve a fresh look, how technology will change these careers too, and why adaptability may become one of the most valuable skills of all.

For years, we taught children and teens to think about their “Digital Footprint,” the trail they leave behind online. But generative AI has changed the conversation. Today, our digital identity can also be shaped by what others share, what technology infers, and even things AI creates that we never said or did. Perhaps it’s time for a new analogy, the “Digital Echo,” what can continue, spread, change, or be created about us long after the original moment.

Teddy may do more than talk back. AI-powered toys can hold conversations, remember what children tell them, personalize responses, and potentially collect their voices and personal information. They can also get things wrong. Before an AI teddy bear, robot, or dinosaur ends up under the tree, parents need to understand what may be happening behind that friendly face. Teddy may be a toy, but it may also be a data-collecting computer.

New Canadian research involving nearly 40,000 Ontario students found that about one in five reported turning to generative AI for emotional support or advice, with these students also more likely to experience emotional difficulties. But does AI contribute to those struggles, or are struggling youth more likely to seek out AI? The research can’t answer that yet. What it does tell parents is important, don’t just ask if your child uses AI. Ask what role AI plays in their life.

AI in schools is no longer just about what a chatbot can generate. As AI evolves from answering prompts to accessing information, connecting with systems, and taking action, the questions schools need to ask are changing. What can AI see? What permissions does it have? What can it do on our behalf? Heading into 2026/27, AI literacy must include privacy, security, human oversight, permission literacy, and responsible AI agency.

Smart glasses and AI-enabled wearables are entering schools faster than many policies can keep up. Cameras, microphones, AI, and cloud processing can now be hidden inside everyday eyewear and accessories, creating new questions around privacy, consent, accessibility, safety, and misuse. We created this free, adaptable draft policy to help schools establish clear, balanced expectations before an incident forces them to react.

As AI becomes more conversational, personalized, and human-like, youth may know they’re talking to technology while still feeling like someone is listening, understanding, or even caring. That difference matters. AI can create real feelings without having feelings of its own. We call this the Anthropomorphism Gap, and understanding why AI can feel like “someone” rather than “something” should become an important part of AI literacy.

The debate over AI in schools is often framed as a simple choice: allow it or restrict it. We believe that misses the bigger question. Not all uses of AI carry the same risks or consequences. Rather than focusing solely on whether AI is being used, schools and families should be asking when, why, and how it is being used, what student data is involved, and whether its educational value justifies its risks.

For years, we’ve taught young people to think about their digital footprint, what technology can remember about them. AI adds a new dimension: their AI imprint, what technology can potentially learn from them. Their photos, words, voices, prompts, clicks, and behaviours may do more than leave a trail, they can help shape the technologies around them. In the age of AI, “think before you post” is no longer enough. We also need to teach, “think before you prompt.”

As AI makes it easier to turn ordinary photos into harmful deepfakes, should Canadian schools rethink posting identifiable students and staff on public social media? This emerging legal question goes beyond consent and asks whether foreseeability, negligence, and a school’s duty of care could eventually come into play. The law hasn’t answered this yet, but the risk has changed, and it’s a conversation school leaders should be having now.

Social media isn’t disappearing, it’s evolving. Through conversations with thousands of Canadian students, we’re seeing a new digital migration. As AI-generated content blurs the line between what’s real and what’s artificial, many youth are moving their most meaningful conversations away from public platforms and into smaller, trusted digital communities. Here’s why that shift matters, and what parents, caregivers, educators, and policymakers need to understand.