ArticleEuropean journal of pediatrics2026
Conversational artificial intelligence and children's social-emotional development: a scoping review.
Article in European journal of pediatrics, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
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Abstract
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.
conclusionConversational 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.
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Identifiers
42844463What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.