About the Workshop

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. In line with this overall goal, we are interested in a wide range of topics, including but not limited to:

• What are the issues and concerns around the lack of child-centred AI design?
• What are the challenges in building child-centred AI and strategies to address such issues?
• What are the methodology and lessons learned to build child-centred AI, including ethical considerations?
• What should be the guiding principles (e.g, age-appropriate design, humane by design) for child-centred AI design?
• How can existing principles, such as age-appropriate design, humane by design, fairness and more be translated into the design of AI systems used by children?
• What are the practical measures and safeguards that can be taken to ensure children are treated in a child-centred manner (e.g., respectfully, fairly) in their interaction with AI-driven technologies?
• What are the implications of child-centred AI around children’s everyday lives (e.g., privacy, safety, digital literacy), and what are the broader societal, policy, and educational implications for building child-centred AI?
• What are the roles and responsibilities in child-centred AI research?

Call for Participation

We call for papers that address topics involving: the issues (e.g. concerns and challenges), the methodology (and lessons learnt), the design principles, the practical measures and safeguards, the implications (e.g., around children’s everyday lives, and the broader societal, policy, educational implications), and the roles and responsibilities to consider for future child-centred AI design. The submissions will be reviewed by the workshop organizers and program committee. All accepted papers will be published through our website and presented at the workshop, provided at least one author attends the workshop and registers at least one day of the conference.

• Papers must be formatted according to the ACM Master Article Submission Template (single column) and comprise up to 6 pages (incl. references).
• Position papers must be submitted in PDF format (non-anonymized) through EasyChair.
• The submissions will be reviewed by the organizers (and additional experts, if required) based on relevance, originality, significance and quality.
• Upon acceptance, at least one author of each accepted position paper must attend the workshop.
• All workshop participants must register for both the workshop and for at least one day of the main conference.