This study explored how primary school students’ communication competence influences their interaction with the artificial intelligence (AI) tool DALL-E in the context of science and engineering project tasks. The objective was to assess the impact of varying levels of communication skills on students’ ability to effectively use AI for science and engineering projects. Participants included four primary school students aged 6, 8, 10, and 12 years. Each participant interacted with DALL-E while their communication with the AI was recorded and later analyzed for clarity, responsiveness, use of technical terms, and adaptability. Results showed that younger students primarily engaged in basic, command-following interactions with AI, focusing on immediate, tangible outputs. In contrast, older students demonstrated more sophisticated and strategic uses of AI, applying advanced communication skills to enhance their science and engineering project processes. These findings highlight the crucial role of communication competence in leveraging AI tools for educational purposes. They suggest that AI educational tools should be adaptable to cater to the diverse developmental needs of students, enhancing both their technical and communicative abilities. The study underlines the potential for integrating AI into educational settings, provided that the tools are versatile enough to support varying levels of student communication competence.