Child-Centred AI Design: Definition, Operation, and Considerations
Open accessAbstract
AI systems and related algorithms are starting to play a variety of roles in the digital ecosystems of children - being embedded in the connected toys, smart home IoT technologies, apps, and services they interact with on a daily basis. Going forward, AI systems will, in all likelihood, become even more pervasive in children’s applications simply due to their sheer usefulness in creating compelling, adaptive, and personal user experiences. Yet, understanding the ways that AI-driven systems used by children operate, and how AI could be designed to better anticipate and respond to children’s diverse requirements is still a new and emerging area of investigation. Our goals of this workshop are to (1) extend the current critically constructive dialogue around the meaning of child-centred AI design and (2) explore ways to operationalise such child-centred AI design in practice, and finally (3) further expand and foster a community for those who are interested in designing and developing child-centred AI systems.
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Recent CHI and IDC workshops examine how to translate child-centered AI principles into practice.
“This conversation has been extended in recent CHI and IDC workshops, which examine how to translate these principles into practice [5,54]”
From Child-AI Co-Creation: A Review of the Current Research Landscape and a Proposal for Six Design Considerations (2025) · cites this paper as [54]
There has been increased focus on designing child-centered AI that are developmentally appropriate and sensitive to children's needs, capabilities, and rights.
“In parallel, there has been an increased focus on designing childcentered AI that are developmentally appropriate and sensitive to children's needs, capabilities, and rights [5,44,54].”
From Child-AI Co-Creation: A Review of the Current Research Landscape and a Proposal for Six Design Considerations (2025) · cites this paper as [54]
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- Authors
- Wang, G., Sun, K., Atabey, A., Pothong, K., Lin, G. C., Zhao, J., & Yip, J.
- Affiliations
- University of Oxford (GB)
- University of Michigan (US)
- University of Edinburgh (GB)
- Laser Scan Engineering (United Kingdom) (GB)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
- University of Washington (US)
- Venue
- Extended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
- Publisher
- ACM
- Published
- 2023-04-19
- Pages
- 1-6
- OpenAlex
- W4366597739
- Cited by
- 16
- References
- 26
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 1
- FWCI
- 3.70
- Type
- conference paper
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA) (publishedVersion)
- DSpace@MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Innovative Human-Technology Interaction
- Social Sciences › Education › Child Development and Digital Technology
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Ethics and Social Impacts of AI
- Keywords
- AI-driven personalization, design community, children's technology use
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