Academic Journal
Conversational artificial intelligence and children's social-emotional development: a scoping review.
| Τίτλος: | Conversational artificial intelligence and children's social-emotional development: a scoping review. |
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| Συγγραφείς: | Bhatt AH; Department of Neonatology, Pramukhswami Medical College and Shree Krishna Hospital, Bhaikaka University, Gokalnagar, Karamsad, 388325, Gujarat, India. adityabhatt47@gmail.com., Nimbalkar SM; Department of Pediatrics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Deoghar, Jharkhand, India., Nimbalkar AS; Department of Physiology, Pramukhswami Medical College, Bhaikaka University, Karamsad, Gujarat, India. |
| Πηγή: | European journal of pediatrics [Eur J Pediatr] 2026 Oct 08; Vol. 185 (11). Date of Electronic Publication: 2026 Oct 08. |
| Τύπος έκδοσης: | Journal Article; Scoping Review |
| Γλώσσα: | English |
| Στοιχεία περιοδικού: | Publisher: Springer Verlag Country of Publication: Germany NLM ID: 7603873 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1432-1076 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 03406199 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Eur J Pediatr Subsets: MEDLINE |
| Imprint Name(s): | Publication: Berlin : Springer Verlag Original Publication: Berlin, New York, Springer-Verlag. |
| Ιατρικοί όροι (MeSH): | Artificial Intelligence* , Child Development* , Communication* , Social Interaction*, Humans ; Child ; Adolescent ; Generative Artificial Intelligence ; Emotions |
| Περίληψη: | The purpose of this study is to map evidence on how children's and adolescents' interactions with conversational artificial intelligence (AI)-including generative chatbots, AI companions, voice assistants, social robots, and AI-enabled toys-relate to social and emotional development. We conducted a JBI-informed scoping review reported according to PRISMA-ScR. A three-stage search combined systematic review citation harvesting, targeted electronic searches, backward and forward citation checking, and searches of regulator and child-research organization websites through 3 August 2026. Eligible sources involved participants younger than 18 years and reported affective, relational, social communication, trust, anthropomorphism, disclosure, attachment, loneliness, well-being, or family/peer outcomes. Findings were descriptively mapped by technology and developmental domain. Forty-four eligible reports represented 34 distinct evidence sources: nine social-robot sources, four voice-assistant/smart-speaker sources, 15 generative-chatbot sources, and six AI-companion/social-chatbot sources. Social robots most consistently improved immediate engagement, acute distress, or specifically trained communication behaviors. Children differentiated AI from humans but often attributed knowledge, agency, moral standing, or relationship-like qualities. Generative systems supported emotional expression and parent-child dialogue, whereas relational framing increased human-likeness, trust, and emotional closeness. Population surveys showed substantial use of emotional support and sensitive disclosure, particularly among certain vulnerable groups. No study established a durable developmental benefit or a safe substitution for human relationships. Conclusion: Conversational AI may offer useful, supervised scaffolding for engagement and communication, but the evidence is heterogeneous, largely short term, and insufficient to support AI as an autonomous emotional caregiver or a substitute friend. What Is Known: • Children increasingly interact with socially responsive AI and may attribute knowledge, emotion, agency, or relational qualities to these systems. What Is New: • Relational design increases anthropomorphism, trust, and emotional closeness; current evidence supports supervised adjunctive use but not long-term developmental benefit or replacement of human relationships. (© 2026. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.) |
| Competing Interests: | Declarations. Ethics approval: Not applicable. This review synthesized published and publicly available data and involved no new human participants. Consent to participate and consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. |
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| Contributed Indexing: | Keywords: Adolescent; Anthropomorphism; Artificial intelligence; Child development; Conversational agent; Social robot |
| Entry Date(s): | Date Created: 20261007 Date Completed: 20261008 Latest Revision: 20261010 |
| Update Code: | 20261010 |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s00431-026-07487-0 |
| PMID: | 42844463 |
| Βάση Δεδομένων: | MEDLINE |
| ISSN: | 1432-1076 |
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| DOI: | 10.1007/s00431-026-07487-0 |