AI Companions for Children and Teens: Comfort, Dependence, or Developmental Risk?
AI companions are increasingly entering the lives of children and teenagers, not only as tools, but as digital “friends”, sources of comfort, guidance and emotional support. Yet, how these systems shape emotional development, attachment and socialization remains largely underexplored and insufficiently regulated.
Building on Professor Pilyoung Kim’s most recent research, “I am here for you”: How relational conversational AI appeals to adolescents, especially those who are socially and emotionally vulnerable (https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.15117), this session brings new empirical and neuroscience-informed insights into why relational AI systems are particularly attractive to teenagers. The study examines the psychological mechanisms that make AI companions feel emotionally supportive and trustworthy, particularly for adolescents experiencing social isolation or emotional vulnerability. Grounded in this cutting-edge research, the event moves beyond speculation to offer evidence-based reflections on emotional reliance, developmental risks, and the urgent need for safeguards in the design, regulation, and use of AI systems involving children and adolescents.
This event brings a unique, evidence-based perspective from one of the leading researchers studying how children and parents interact with AI in real-life contexts. Drawing on her most recent empirical and neuroscience-informed research, Professor Pilyoung Kim will share key scientific insights into how children relate emotionally to AI systems, and what these interactions reveal about emerging risks and developmental challenges.
The session aims to help:
Parents better understand how their children engage with AI companions
Educators reflect on the role of AI in learning, guidance and emotional development
Policymakers and regulators grasp why this topic requires deeper reflection, safeguards and public policy responses
Rather than offering simple answers, this conversation opens a critical space to reflect on a rapidly expanding phenomenon that is already part of children’s everyday lives, but still lacks clear ethical, scientific and regulatory frameworks.
Key questions include:
What do recent studies reveal about children’s emotional relationships with AI?
How can parents recognize healthy versus problematic patterns of interaction?
What are the implications for education, design and child protection?
Why does this field urgently require public debate and policy attention?
Speaker
Pilyoung Kim, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology at the University of Denver, Visiting Scholar at Stanford University, and Director of the Center for the Brain, AI, and Child (BAIC). Professor Kim is an internationally recognized expert on the AI–child relationship, combining neuroscience, psychology and empirical research to study how AI systems affect children’s emotional and cognitive development.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pilyoung-kim/
Newsletter: https://pilyoung.substack.com/
Moderator
Ana Catarina de Alencar – Resident Philosopher, The AI Collective
Ana Catarina de Alencar is an international lawyer and ethicist based in Paris. She works directly on AI governance and compliance projects and is currently a PhD researcher at the Université de Lille, where she develops an interdisciplinary project on emotional AI at the intersection of law and neurobiology.
She holds a Master’s degree in Philosophy and Technology of Law and is the author of several publications, including Artificial Intelligence, Ethics and Law (2022). Ana is a member of the Open Ethics AI association and Women in AI Governance. She has also served as a university lecturer in Political Philosophy, Digital Rights, GDPR and AI Regulation, and is recognized as an expert in European technology regulation.
Event details
🗓 Date: 26 January 2026
🕕 Time: 6:00 PM Paris time | 9:00 AM Palo Alto
🗣 Language: English
💻 Format: Online (live)
🏛 Organized by: The AI Collective
🎤 Curated & Moderated by: Ana Catarina de Alencar
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