Parental attitudes toward ai in early childhood: A three‑pillar framework

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly integrated into early childhood education through adaptive learning platforms, conversational agents, and AI-enabled toys. While governments and technology firms promote these tools for their potential to personalise learning and reduce teacher workload, parental perspectives remain underexplored, despite parents’ role as primary gatekeepers of young children’s digital experiences. This narrative review synthesises literature published between 2020 and 2025 to examine how parents perceive the promises and risks of AI in early learning - drawing on a three-pillar conceptual framework - Trust, Cultural Values, and Digital Literacy. The study analyses how these dimensions interact to shape parental acceptance, conditional support, or resistance. Findings indicate that transparency and teacher oversight foster trust, while cultural misalignment and low digital literacy often produce scepticism or passive adoption. The review highlights the need for culturally responsive AI design, plain language data transparency, and parental digital literacy programs. It concludes that effective and ethical integration of AI in early childhood education requires policies and practices that engage parents as informed partners rather than passive consumers.