As artificial intelligence becomes more common in the homework of middle and high school students, many families are caught in a dilemma: should they restrict its use or let their child follow the trend? A recent survey in France found that 79% of high school students and 59% of middle school students had already used AI for their assignments. This growing trend has raised questions for parents: could AI negatively affect learning, or is it now a necessary tool to stay competitive? A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences explored how the behavior of other students influences parents' decisions. Researchers surveyed around 2,000 parents from the U.S., Canada, and the U.K., all of whom had a child aged 13 to 18. They were asked how much they would be willing to pay for three months of access to a high-end AI tool for their teenager’s homework. Parents were given different scenarios, where they were told that 20%, 40%, 60%, or 80% of other teenagers were using AI. As the reported percentage of AI users increased, the amount parents were willing to pay also rose. When the proportion of users increased from 20% to 80%, the amount they were ready to pay went up by more than 60%, or about $11. Nearly one in five parents cited the fear of their child falling behind as their main reason. The study, led by Leonardo Bursztyn, an economics professor at the University of Chicago, highlights a kind of "equipment race" among parents. Even if they doubt the benefits of AI, some choose to provide access to avoid a school disadvantage. In France, the National Education system permits limited and supervised use of generative AI in class starting from the fourth grade. In high school, students can use AI independently but only within guidelines set by their teachers. However, using AI to complete tasks without permission or without personal effort is considered cheating. Some parents were also warned about potential risks to learning. In a previous experiment, high school students who had access to GPT-4 performed better in math exercises during training. However, when they were tested without the tool, their results were about 17% lower than students who had practiced on their own. This raised concerns among parents, though it didn’t significantly reduce the amount they were willing to spend on AI tools. However, more parents supported the idea of school-imposed rules or bans, increasing from 44% to 57%. Families seem to recognize the risks but prefer a shared approach: they want to ensure their child isn’t the only one without access to a widely used tool. For parents, the issue isn’t just about allowing or banning AI tools like ChatGPT. They may be more interested in how their teenager uses it. Encouraging them to show their queries, check the answers, or redo the exercises themselves can help distinguish real learning from simply delegating tasks to a machine. A simple rule of thumb: AI can explain concepts, suggest similar exercises, or point out errors, but it should not complete the work that the student will submit to their teacher.