Growing Up with AI

How should children and young people shape the AI-enabled world they are growing up in?

Children and young people are amongst the first generations to grow up surrounded by generative AI, intelligent tutors, AI companions and algorithmic decision-making. They are often positioned as users or recipients of these technologies rather than active participants in shaping them.

This challenge explores how children and young people can help design, govern and evaluate AI systems that increasingly influence learning, relationships, wellbeing and civic life.

Indicative potential partners

• Arts Council England - Libraries
• International Centre for Life Trust
• North East Museums
• Ofcom
• Schools

Illustrative research directions

• AI and education
• AI literacy
• Children’s rights and AI
• Participatory design with children
• AI and child wellbeing
• Young people’s civic engagement with AI
• AI companions and relationships
• Neurodiversity and inclusive AI
• Family experiences of AI

Indicative reading

• Child-Centered AI: Contextualizing Principles and Design in HCI

  G. Wang, A. Atabey, K. Sun, G.C. Lin, S.K. Johnston, K. Pothong, C. Wilson, L.D. Urquhart, J.C. Yip, J. Zhao

  2025. interactions, 32(5), pp.50-53. doi:10.1145/3757108

• Where Are the Children in More-Than-Human Design?

  K. Helms

  2026. Interactions, 33(4), pp.60-62. doi:10.1145/3818629

• Family as a Third Space for AI Literacies: How do children and parents learn about AI together?

  S. Druga, F. L. Christoph, A. J. Ko

  2022. In Proceedings of the 2022 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems (pp. 1-17). doi:10.1145/3491102.3502031

• The potential of diverse youth as stakeholders in identifying and mitigating algorithmic bias for a future of fairer AI

  J. Solyst, E. Yang, S. Xie, A. Ogan, J. Hammer, M. Eslami

  2023. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 7(CSCW2), 1-27. doi:10.1145/3610213

• When Our Kid Has a Human and an AI Lover: A Conversation with Alexandra Diening on the Future of Relationships

  J. Li

  2025. Interactions, 32(5), pp.18-20. doi:10.1145/3757886

If you are applying to join the CCAI programme, and have difficulty accessing any of the papers above, please contact us.