Approximately 19% of Irish children and teenagers aged between 10 and 16 use artificial intelligence tools to draft essays, compose stories, and summarize texts for schoolwork, according to a major European study published by the EU Kids Online research network.

The report places Ireland among the lowest adoption rates in Europe for AI-assisted school tasks. Only Malta (15%) and Finland (14%) recorded lower proportions of young people using generative AI for school assignments. In contrast, nearly half of surveyed children in Belgium (48%) and Portugal (47%) reported using AI tools to assist with their education.

Coordinated by the University of Oslo, the multidisciplinary EU Kids Online study examined digital habits across more than 28,000 children and teenagers in 19 European nations. The cross-country findings revealed that daily smartphone usage remains widespread across Europe, with 87% of respondents going online via mobile devices every day.

The findings come amid ongoing debate in Ireland regarding digital literacy, online safety, and technology integration in classrooms. Separate research released earlier this month by CyberSafeKids also noted an increase in young people using AI chatbots for homework, prompting calls from educators and online safety advocates for clearer guidance on responsible technology use in schools.