About Smart With AI
Helping children learn how to use AI wisely
Artificial intelligence is becoming part of everyday life for children. It is already appearing in the apps they use, the tools they discover and the way they find information.
The question is no longer whether children will encounter AI. The more important question is whether they will learn how to use it responsibly.
Smart With AI was created to help South African families navigate this new world together.
The Smart With AI workbook is a practical 37 page guide designed for learners in Grades 4 to 9 and their parents. It contains 20 activities covering Mathematics, Languages, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences, while also teaching children how to question, check and use AI responsibly.
AI should support learning, not replace it
The workbook follows a simple principle throughout.
Brain first. AI second
Children are encouraged to write, predict, draw, solve, investigate and think before using AI. They then learn how AI can help them understand a difficult concept, receive feedback or explore an idea.
The AI does not do the thinking for them.
The workbook also teaches children to question AI rather than automatically believing everything it says. One of the activities challenges learners to investigate facts provided by AI and identify information that may be wrong.
Created for families
Parents are an important part of the learning process.
The workbook begins with a section specifically for parents covering the five house rules of AI, why the workbook exists, how to recognise AI written homework, choosing an AI tool and basic POPIA considerations.
It gives families practical ways to talk about AI without requiring parents to already be AI experts.
Learning with AI should still be honest
Smart With AI also addresses one of the biggest concerns parents and teachers have about AI.
Cheating.
Children learn the difference between using AI to support their learning and using AI to produce work that they submit as their own.
The workbook teaches learners to use AI as a coach, while keeping their own thinking and their own words at the centre of their work.
Our goal
Our goal is simple.
Help children become confident, thoughtful and responsible users of AI
And help parents feel more confident guiding them along the way.