Your Kid Asked an AI Chatbot for Advice Last Night. Do You Know What It Said?
- Christine Santori
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
Written by Dave Woolner
Here’s something that might surprise you: 64% of teenagers have used AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Character.AI. Only half of their parents know.
These tools have quietly become the new study buddy, the new search engine, and for some kids, the new someone to talk to. They’re available on every phone, free to use, and designed to be agreeable. That last part is the problem. AI chatbots are built to say yes. They affirm, they validate, they go along with whatever your child says. That sounds harmless until your 12-year-old is asking one for life advice and getting nothing but encouragement in return.
I noticed this as a dad and as a software developer. And I couldn’t find a single tool that gave parents any visibility into what AI was saying to their kids. So I built one.
What Parents Actually Told Me
Early on, I sat down with Christine Santori, who runs Community Stroll here in Ridgefield. She gave me the kind of honest feedback that changes how you think about what you’re building.
Her first question was whether kids would know they’re being monitored. That led to a real conversation about the balance between privacy and safety. Her take: most parents don’t need to read every conversation. They just want to know when something crosses a line. Alerts only, she said, would be enough for most families. But for parents of younger kids, or kids with special needs, full visibility matters.
She also pushed me to think about where kids are actually using these tools. Not on laptops. On their phones. That insight, along with hearing the same thing from nearly every other parent I talked to, is what led me to build the iPhone app.
Meet Sensible
Sensible is a parental control app for AI chatbots. It gives you three options, and you can set each one differently for each child:
Block AI chatbots entirely for your 10-year-old who doesn’t need access yet. See full conversations for your 12-year-old who’s starting to explore. Get alerts on critical topics for your 17-year-old who deserves some privacy but still needs a safety net.
Because a 10-year-old and a 17-year-old are not the same kid, and your tools should reflect that.
Sensible is now live on the App Store.
Try It
Download Sensible: App Store
Learn more: getsensible.app
Free to block. Free to try.
If you find it useful, share it with a parent who needs to know. And if you have feedback, I’d love to hear it. I’m building this for families like mine and yours, and the more parents who weigh in, the better it gets.Read the full story: https://getsensible.app/blog/nobody-used-it
About Dave
Dave Woolner is a father of two in Ridgefield. After 20+ years in the film industry, he taught himself to code during the 2020 lockdown and hasn’t looked back. Sensible is his answer to a question every parent is starting to ask: what are my kids saying to AI, and what is AI saying back?
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