AI for Kids

How Parents Can Guide Kids Through Talking Toys And Chatbots (Middle School+)

• Amber Ivey (AI) • Season 3 • Episode 10

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A stuffed animal that answers back. A kind voice that “understands.” A tutor that lives in a fictional town. AI characters are everywhere, and they’re changing how kids learn, play, and bond with media. We sat down with Dr. Sonia Tiwari, children’s media researcher and former game character designer, to unpack how to welcome these tools into kids’ lives without losing what matters most.

Sonia breaks down what truly makes an AI character: a personality, a backstory, and the new twist of two‑way interactivity. From chatbots and smart speakers to social robots and virtual influencers, we trace how each format affects attention, trust, and learning. Then we get practical. We talk through how to spot manipulative backstories (“I’m your best friend” is a red flag), when open‑ended chat goes wrong, and why short, purposeful sessions keep curiosity high and dependence low.

For caregivers wary of AI, Sonia offers a powerful reframe: opting out cedes the space to designs that won’t put kids first. Early, honest AI literacy, taught like other life skills, protects children from deepfakes, overfamiliar bots, and data oversharing.

If you care about safe, joyful learning with technology, this conversation gives you a clear checklist and a calm path forward. Subscribe for more parent‑friendly, screen‑light AI guidance, share this with someone who needs it, and leave a review to help more families find the show.

Resources:

  1. Flora AI – the visual AI tool you mentioned as your favorite gadget
  2. Dr. Sonia Tiwari’s research article – “Designing ethical AI characters for children’s early learning experiences” in AI, Brain and Child
  3. Dr. Sonia Tiwari on LinkedIn – you told listeners to check out her LinkedIn
  4. Buddy.ai – AI character English tutor you referenced
  5. Snorble – the AI bedtime companion you mentioned

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Amber Ivey (AI):

Welcome to the AI for Kids Podcast, the podcast for moms, aunties, and teachers who want the kids they love to understand AI without more screen time. We keep it simple, safe, and fun. No tech degree required. Each episode breaks down AI ideas and includes activities to help kids use AI in ways that keep them curious and creative. No pressure, no overwhelm, no extra screens. Just clear, engaging learning you can feel good about. Let's get started. Welcome to the AI for Kids Podcast, the podcast for moms, aunties, and teachers who want the kids they love to understand AI without more screen time. We keep it simple, safe, and fun. No tech degree required. Each episode breaks down AI ideas and includes activities to help kids use AI in ways that keep them curious and creative. No pressure, no overwhelm, no extra screens. Just clear, engaging learning you can feel good about. Let's get started. Hey everyone, welcome to AI for Kids, the podcast where we learn about artificial intelligence in a fun and safe way for kids and their parents and teachers. Today we're talking to Dr. Sonia Tawari, who is a children's media researcher. Dr. Sonia, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. Excited for this conversation, yeah. I'm so excited to be here. Full transparency, folks. Dr. Sonia was supposed to be up here a long time ago, but my life got in the way, so I'm so glad that she's on, and I think she's on at the perfect time, especially as we think about children's media and why that matters with AI. Dr. Sonia, can you tell us about what does it mean to be a children's media researcher? I have no idea what that is. Well, sticky I do, but for the audience, what is that?

Dr. Sonia Tiwari:

Yeah, so children's media can range from all of the media surrounding children, whether it's uh children's books, film and television, YouTube, gaming, and now AI. So broadly I come from a background of film and animation. I was a character designer in the gaming industry. And then many years later, I went back to school to get my PhD and trying to see the educational side of it. That how do we use characters to help children learn? And so that's my job as a researcher now. I look at whether a character is powered by AI or in a traditional book form. How do children connect with it? How do children learn with it?

Amber Ivey (AI):

That is so interesting. And you made me like a lot of stuff start going through our mind. One that's so cool, you used to like design characters for games, but the thing that scares me a little bit is like now with AI characters involved, that's gonna be a very interesting space with characters learning about you or interacting with you in different ways. But before we jump into this, I want to do a few icebreakers and then a quick lightning round with you to get us started. Are you fine with that? Sure. Yeah. So what's one fun thing you did this weekend? Or this week? I mean, it's early in the week, but also this weekend is fine.

Dr. Sonia Tiwari:

Uh, I attended the AI and education summit at Khan Lab School. So it was like perfect right before this podcast. Um, there were also children panelists, so it was very interesting to hear. I was very inspired and also ashamed of my own childhood because I was not so put together. Um, so yeah, it was great to hear how kids are using AI and how educators across like different fields are using AI.

Amber Ivey (AI):

The funny thing is, every time I do a podcast interview with any person under the age of 18 and they're talking about how they built some AI tool or how they're coding, I'm like, what was I doing at this point?

Dr. Sonia Tiwari:

Right. And even the way they articulate themselves, like, I don't think I was able to communicate my ideas so beautifully.

Amber Ivey (AI):

So I know I wasn't. So, but I'm glad the next generation has figured it out because AI is here and we need them here to figure it out. So back speaking of kids, when you were a kid, did you have a favorite animated character? If so, do you think AI could bring that character to life?

Dr. Sonia Tiwari:

Okay, so my favorite character was Bubbles from the Powerpuff Girls. Ah, yes. And uh I think it can be possible, but I think it will be very cringe because I think the the thing about Powerpuff Girls was it was like a band of musicians, right? Like everyone has a personality and it all comes together. So uh, you know, Blossom was the sincere leader type, and Buttercup was the rebellious one. And so, by comparison, Bubbles was the funny, cute one. And so, without that dynamic of other characters on its own as a chat bot, it will feel weird.

Amber Ivey (AI):

I agree. And they were just so dynamic as a trio, like to have them without that relationship that they built together would be super weird. But I also love the PowerPoint girl. So glad we brought that up. For kids who never heard of that, Google it or ask your parents. I'm sure they loved it too. And then we're gonna do a very quick lightning round. So I'm gonna ask you a few quick questions and then you're gonna answer as quickly as possible. Are you ready?

Dr. Sonia Tiwari:

Yes.

Amber Ivey (AI):

What's your favorite piece of tech or gadget right now?

Dr. Sonia Tiwari:

Flora AI. I just like how you can visually connect different inputs and create something with AI.

Amber Ivey (AI):

I love that. We'll add for our parents and kids, we'll make sure that's in the show notes so you can look at that. And if you had to design a brand new AI character, what animal or creature would it be? Or maybe it's not an animal, or I mean it would be a creature, maybe it's not an animal, maybe it's something else.

Dr. Sonia Tiwari:

Uh, a tiny dog, like pocket-sized dog, maybe. Because I I miss taking my dog everywhere with me.

Amber Ivey (AI):

Oh, that's that I love that. That's super sweet. And what's your go-to snack when you're working on a big project? Uh, baby carrots. Oh. Okay.

Dr. Sonia Tiwari:

Very ASMR for me.

Amber Ivey (AI):

Do you have the are they without any sauce or do you include any sauce? No, just straight out of the bag. Okay. Straight out of the bag. There we go. And last but not least, what's the best advice you've ever received? I think respond, don't react.

Dr. Sonia Tiwari:

That's yeah. I I learned it in my yoga teacher training, and now I apply it everywhere.

Amber Ivey (AI):

For a kid who may not know what that means, explain what it means to respond, not react.

Dr. Sonia Tiwari:

Yeah, so like if, for example, if someone says anything mean to you, a reaction is like, hey, how dare you? You know, like just feeling angry and saying it out loud. Response is more thoughtful and intentional, like, hey, it's not okay to talk to me this way. Could you reframe what you were just saying? So, yeah, just taking control of the situation and responding.

Amber Ivey (AI):

And I think that's so critical, especially as kids are growing up, um, to learn those type of things, right? And in a world where attention is being pulled in a lot of different ways, and sometimes like the way social media interacts with us is for a quick reaction, it's not for a thoughtful response. So, thank you for sharing that. I really like that. So, we're gonna get into this thing called AI characters. One, what is an AI character? What how do you even explain that? Like, what's the definition of an AI character?

Dr. Sonia Tiwari:

So, I think we can start with just a character in general, like a fictional character. It has a personality, it has a backstory, it's part of a fictional world. And so, AI character is just these a regular character with some AI interactivity. So now a character in a book cannot talk back to you, but now AI adds that capability. Um, and so in terms of AI characters, it can be like chatbots, whether it's like just text or animation or audio, it could be smart speakers uh or social robots, um, it could be even like a hybrid product, like uh an AI toy that works in combination with a book or a toy or something non-AI. Uh, and it could be like virtual influencers, which are just like pre-recorded AI-generated videos of a character that may exist on social media, pretend to be like a real person. So various forms uh that characters can take. But they're uh at the core, they're fictional, they have a specific personality and a backstory.

Amber Ivey (AI):

So you said a lot of things, and I want to dig into a lot of those. So let's start with even at the very beginning of AI characters. I didn't even think about things like my smart speaker being an AI character or what I tend to say deep fakes or AI influencers, depending on how that that is done. I didn't think about that in that way. Um, I also honestly I had I interviewed two folks on this podcast, one the creator of Snorble, which is an AI character that works alongside um bedtime stories and sleep routines. And then uh most recently, I think you got a chance to listen to it, um, we interviewed the um one of the creators or co-founders of Buddy AI. So I knew that was like an AI character, but to think about um Snorlable as an AI character, not a I I don't know what I would have called it, I would just call it a stuffed animal that has AI. But it's very interesting to think about this AI character idea. When you when you got into this field, like what made you shift from the character piece and then include the AI character?

Dr. Sonia Tiwari:

I think that was the natural progression for me. So, for example, the uh psychologists who are deep into the study of how teens may overuse uh chatbots for emotional reliance, yeah, they are coming from that over-reliance and and um relationship kind of perspective. So they call it like AI companions because they're only looking at the companionship piece. Uh, for me, like not all characters are designed for companionship. So for me, uh AI characters is the bigger umbrella term and companionship being one of the things under it. Um, and then also some of the, you know, Alexa, for example, it does have a name, but it doesn't necessarily have a backstory or a fictional world around it. So we may not consider that as a uh as a character unless, you know, there are people who do add these backstories onto tools that were not designed for being a character. So, for example, you can build a custom GPT on chat GPT, give it a backstory, give it a personality, change its voice, and suddenly it begins to function like a fictional character.

Amber Ivey (AI):

That's a good point. So, one of the things that comes up a lot, and I know something you often deal with is like, how do you then design a character that is ethical? And when I think about characters, right, a lot of these characters that exist are teaching kids. Like adults, we have like there's certain websites where we can also can create characters, but a lot of the worry is around kids in these AI characters. How does one design an AI character that is fit for kids and that is ethical in a way that helps kids learn?

Dr. Sonia Tiwari:

Yeah, that's like I mean, I will start by saying that I do not have all the answers, but I'm as a researcher, like you know, attempting to find out. Um, and so I recently published this study on uh in the AI Brain and Child Journal, where I looked at 20 different AI characters that were designed for children's education and started just by observing like what's working, what's not working, and then distilled like a list of things that may be considered ethical design principles for AI characters. So the top of the list is definitely just having some kind of learning goal up front in advance instead of keeping it completely open-ended. So, one of the examples of Buddy AI that you know was on your podcast recently, uh, I love that the goal is very much laid out even before the interaction begins. Like we're gonna focus on our speaking skills. Today we're gonna learn about colors. So as soon as you like click on that interaction, you know what you're getting into. Versus for young kids, especially if they are just left with an open-ended AI chatbot that, oh, it's educational, ask me about anything. It's hard to predict where that conversation is going. And also, uh, the one of the other ethical design principles is just having uh an average session time or some predefined ending to that conversation, otherwise, it can go on and on for hours, and then isolation and all these other emotional overdependence kind of challenges come in. So with Buddy and Ello and a lot of tutor type uh AI characters, uh that is the benefit that because there is a goal laid out at uh up front and the average session is only 15, 20 minutes a day, it kind of focuses on the learning and avoids all the trappy behavior of uh overdependence.

Amber Ivey (AI):

I didn't even think about um one, thank you for writing this paper. I will link it in the show notes, especially for parents who are interested in um checking that out. And um, I like that you actually are like rating or grading should be available to kids. And one of the things I appreciate is like we want to make sure that it's fit for the purpose. So if kids are here to learn um how to speak or whatever, that's all the AI should be able to do, or to your other point around, like time. Like that's something I didn't think about. It's like we should have a time horizon or end, and we should be able to go into shutdown. Are there any other things like that that parents and kids should be thinking about when they think about these AI characters or signing up for these AI tools?

Dr. Sonia Tiwari:

Right. So another I I think like the the challenge with AI characters is that as a consumer, we don't have control over a lot of things. So uh this article was geared more towards the designers to kind of fix the problem from the ground up instead of you know expecting families and kids to fend for themselves. Um, so um I think like in terms of guardrailing, uh, what we can do as consumers is just building a culture around how we use it. So even just uh the presence of a family member or a teacher in the background as kids are interacting with this to kind of monitor in real time, or even outside of the context of AI, holding space for children to open up and talk about their daily lives, that is kind of the root cause of why children reach out to AI in the first place for help. So even holding that space and then keeping an eye on the amount of time spent on these interactions, what is achieved from these interactions. So those are things that we can do even outside of the product. From within the design, of course, like designers can build in uh transparency, even. So uh even as a character says something like, Well, I'm a tutor from MathWheel, it does have a backstory, but it not upfront with this is a fictional town of MathWheel. And so it's very unlikely for the child to believe that it's a real person from a real place. Um, and so what we can watch out for is if the backstory gets too real and manipulative, like if I say, Well, I'm dyslexic and I'm struggling with this question, and if the AI character says, Well, I'm dyslexic too, and this is how my teacher helped me, or I hear you, I understand you, I'm your friend, I'm your best friend, then that becomes um, you know, challenging. So we can, as consumers, we can keep an eye on this, and as designers, we can really build the foundation in such a strong way that we don't have to put out fires later on, have these foundations and advocacy groups and ethical design frameworks after the fact instead of right from the beginning.

Amber Ivey (AI):

Yeah, I totally agree. And to your point, like we're getting handed software that's created more often than not for some profit motive, which is totally fine, and I get like that's part of what's happening. But the thing I'm nervous about for um kids is that to your point around if it decides to go elsewhere and do other things, as parents do that, like you said, put those guardrails in place and are listening out, are there other things that they just should pay attention to and kids should pay attention to to know that hey, the AI character has gone a little bit too far? I know you mentioned a few of those things, but anything else that comes to your mind?

Dr. Sonia Tiwari:

I think the even just on parents are reading reviews on common sense media or even like Reddit threads, just as a caution, because sometimes uh it's so easy for creators of any AI tool to mark it as educational or appropriate for a such and such age group. And there are, I mean, FERPA and COPA type of laws exist, um, but we don't have like standardized ratings as of now. Um, and also to just just for like everyone's general understanding, to make a uh to build a law takes time. Uh first it's a proposal, then it's vetted by multiple government agencies, and then someday it becomes a law. And the developments in AI are changing almost daily. So it's hard for laws and policies to keep up with the speed of innovation, and so then the burden of guardrailing and monitoring falls on families and educators. Um, and so I even say that for before you lean onto an AI tool, a simple question we can ask ourselves is do I even need it? Is there a simpler solution? Sometimes it could just be picking up a piece of paper and pen and writing down your thoughts. And I know like a lot of people say, well, it's so easy to generate an outline of an essay or something we're about to write with AI. Um, but it's also easy to pick a piece of paper and just try to write down the outline and just see it in front of you. Once it's written down, then your ideas begin to flow. So even like learning to take that step back that okay, before I jump straight into AI, let me braindump my own ideas somewhere. So then I have a point of reference where this conversation is headed.

Amber Ivey (AI):

So I just saw, I agree 100%. I think that there are, I think, you know, when a new technology comes, you get into like there's like the early adopters, then it's like folks in mass are using it, which ChatGPT has been in mass for a while than other similar large language models since ChatGPT decided to release this thing upon us for the public outside of researchers. But one of the things that comes up for me is that like you then go to the mode of you're using it for everything. And then you realize later on, like, hey, let me actually pull back. I don't need to use it for everything. To your point, let me just write down a piece of paper to get my thoughts out. Because people are using it for everything. I recently read an article where a I think it was on LinkedIn and he had done, he's also a researcher, he had done like a study with one of the new AI toys that I'm not going to name, or AI characters I'm not going to name. And he gave it to his son for less than like 72 hours, and addiction was there within 72 hours. And I was just talking to someone this past weekend. I was like, if kids are addicted to pacifiers and stuffed toys that do not talk to you, what more like a higher level addiction could exist with um something that's actually talking with me? How do I, as a kid, as a parent, as a teacher, navigate that space when I may already love my stuffed animal, now it has a voice and I'm talking to it? Like, what should we be thinking about with these new types of toys? Mattel's about to put AI in toys, a bunch of folks are thinking about it. What do we do there?

Dr. Sonia Tiwari:

I think it's like I'm generally a positive person. So I think like I do have some hope that even as you know, when plastic toys came along and there were a lot of toxins in the colors and the materials, just the physical toys, there is now again like a movement on uh planned toys type of companies where it's it's mostly like wooden toys or sustainable materials. So there's still a market for uh, like you know, Etsy is thriving. So a lot of handmade things and DIY culture, maker culture is still thriving. So I'm hoping that even as these companies just rush to be the first, the first talking doll, the first talking whatever, uh, there will be a community of families who would still want the traditional toys, leave something left to imagination. Because that was the whole appeal of dolls or uh non-talking toys, that it allowed children to fill in the blanks themselves and practice their own creativity. And so now these AI toys can even put kids in silos. One thing we don't think about is we say, well, one of the greatest powers of AI is hyper-personalization. It can really adapt to your interests and your, but it's kind of like having a news channel that's very heavily politically inclined to one party, one political party, right? It does not show you the other side of the story. So it's kind of like if a child says, I love dinosaurs, and this AI toy goes, Well, let me tell you a story about dinosaurs, let's uh uh print a sticker sheet about dinosaurs, let me tell you about the history of dinosaurs. And so now this child who instead went to the library and could have been exposed to many different topics, not just dinosaurs, uh, now it's kind of like limited to the one idea they had, and it not getting exposed to ideas that otherwise you would have never even thought of. And I give this example of um uh I read this book called Belonging. It's about like a woman who uh was in the US, but she was original originally from Germany, and she carried that intergenerational guilt of what the ancestors had done, even though she wasn't directly responsible for anything. And I have no uh uh backstory that connects with the author, completely new topic for me, but I thoroughly enjoyed their that book. And had I gone to an AI to say, well, these are my interests, recommend me something, or uh, you know, I love arts and crafts and only stuck with those books, I would have never opened up my mind to this understanding about the world that okay, there are other people who live in other ways and they have other kinds of problems. And for children, uh, especially in the early years, it's so important to build that muscle to appreciate diversity. And we're kind of like killing off the opportunity to do that by putting them in silos. Let's build everything hyper-customized and personalized to what you like, and you are this like this is such a narcissistic view of education that you're the center of everything, and there's no need to learn anything beyond what you're interested in.

Amber Ivey (AI):

So you've actually changed my mind. So originally I was really excited. No, seriously, I was really excited about this idea of personal personalization, mainly because of like if a person has a different learning style, like how can I help that person learn the topic that they may be struggling with in a way that makes sense for them or if they have different needs and things like that. But what you're opening my mind to is that because the way technology works and the way just I think about algorithms on social media that continue to show certain feeds after you like something or after you engage with it, it's gonna learn from you and it's probably gonna give you more of that, which then gets to this point of like you said, the silos, or we're now being like separated or walled off from everything else. And that scares me a bit. Like, I'm also general, generally a positive person around this stuff. But now you make me think about then how do we do it in a way that allows me to get the benefits of for especially for kids who are like need extra learning or need extra time in a way, but also not to the point of like they're walled off and they're not learning other things and not getting access to other things. Do you have any thoughts on how parents and even kids should be thinking about that as they're interacting with these tools?

Dr. Sonia Tiwari:

I think just by thinking of AI and AI-generated content and AI recommended things as a very small part of the bigger educational system. I think like right now, especially because I live in the Silicon Valley, it's kind of like the the day begins with like, good morning, here's a new AI tool. And so it's like everyone is just trying to keep up, and we hardly get any time to like breathe and think that okay, what else? And so just um just remembering that because it's such a small part of what overall a child's well-being is, then there is no room for building silos if you're also exposing children to the other good things in life, which has nothing to do with AI. So just you know, spending time in the playground, just playing with sticks, no, no tools, no toys, no nothing, making up their own games, which I a lot of people say, oh, kids these days, I think kids still love to play. It's like uh you know, biological instinct. So I don't think it's going away. And in fact, I think families and children and educators are appreciating it even more. So instead of thinking more like be completely anti-technology, no AI in our house, versus we'll use AI when there's a need, but there's also all this other, you know, walks in the nature and time on the playground and just good old reading a book, going to a library or makerspace. So exposing children to um in-person, social, collaborative environments that have always existed in education, and then AI being a small layer that's added on some of it.

Amber Ivey (AI):

I love that. I like that because it allows, I was asked actually gonna ask you next, what would you say to the parents who are on Reddit, because I read them in Facebook groups saying kids don't need to learn anything about AI? But what I'm hearing you say, I'm would love to also hear any additional commentary, is like AI has a time and place for what it could be good for, but then also like being a kid is so, so important. What is there anything else you would tell that parent who is afraid of AI? Because I literally just responded, someone on Redd yesterday. They were like, Why is the kid even learning about this? And I was like, sorry, but day jobs are requiring this, like it's being integrated. I you don't want your kid to be left behind, but also get they also want their kid to be a kid. They're scared of addiction with screens, they're scared of the AI, what it can say to their kid, they're scared of the data going into the character that's talking about the kid's life and the kid is sharing. Like I go back, I've told this story before, but there was a kid on a um cruise I was on a couple of years ago who began to tell me his whole life. And I'm like, so I always tell kids, like, one, don't talk to strangers, and two, you also treat AI like a stranger a bit. You don't share personal information with it. Like there's certain things we've been taught. Don't talk to strangers, don't give your personal information in the AI tool. So we want to make sure that kids are doing that. But what do you tell the parent who's afraid of the AI and they're asking, why do we need AI?

Dr. Sonia Tiwari:

Yeah, so and from the the summit that I was at at Khan Lab School, Sal Khan said a very nice thing about this that if we run away from technology, we'll be seeding it towards the ones with negative intent. That is like it's like taking control of the situation instead of running away from it. So if we just, you know, um keep on saying that, well, it's kind of like you know, adults who choose not to vote because it's like, why bother? You know, all politicians are corrupt, who cares? And so then who shows up to vote? People with negative intent. And then, you know, it doesn't like entire countries. Countries have suffered because of this attitude. And so we should think about that in terms of AI as well. That uh if all the the good parents who want to build more hands-on experiences and use technology more mindfully, if they just say that, well, we'll just delay it. And that's kind of what's happening in Europe from what I hear, that it's amazing that they have a lot of uh laws and respect towards preserving childhood. There are more regulations in Europe, but there's also like the economic impact of it, like you were saying, a lot of jobs are going into AI and uh AI literacy is needed. Also, it's a way of um protecting children. I remember like when when I turned 18, I had an uncle who was otherwise like very strict. Uh, but he said that, hey, if you ever get curious about alcohol, have a first drink with your family. They're open to it. Like, we want you to be safe, we want to be you to be curious, and we want you to know what happens when you consume too much alcohol, yeah, and how does it affect your health? So he had a very open conversation with me. I had my first beer with him, and I've never been addicted. I still like you know, have a glass of wine or two when I need to, but I've stayed despite being in the art community where you know smoking, drinking is very common. Yeah. Um, so that kind of open getting ahead of the problem approach was so empowering. And so instead of one day a child randomly comes across an AI character who's being manipulative, yeah, they were proactively aware that okay, there are there's there could be someone who looks like my parents and sounds exactly like my parents, but may not be real, it could be a deep fake. That awareness can protect them. And so instead of like hiding the problem, proactively talking about it, is giving them a layer of safety.

Amber Ivey (AI):

That's such a good point. I think that I think many of us have had that same conversation of like um your parents trying to like meet you or family members trying to meet you where they know the danger is and like trying to show you how to grow up in this world in a way that has to me, those are like extra guardrails, right? Um, so it's just it's very interesting to think about making sure that parents know enough because they're also a little bit nervous because they may not know a lot about these tools, know enough to be able to do that in a way that's meaningful. Do are there people you think kids or parents teachers should be talking or listening to, following? You're one of them. Are there other folks that they should be following to try to get up to speed for themselves so they can have those conversations with kids?

Dr. Sonia Tiwari:

Uh, I'm trying to recall, so I'll just like pause quickly to like look up the uh person. There are like a few I know influencers on on LinkedIn who talk about it.

Amber Ivey (AI):

And I I follow um Dipty with Little Lit. I know I've interviewed her on the podcast before and what she's doing. I've started asking people like who to follow, also to help me figure out who I should reach out to. So if folks want to follow you as a person that they should be um looking up to, where can they find you online?

Dr. Sonia Tiwari:

I'm only on LinkedIn right now. I had like this uh mental health thing where I just shut down my Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.

Amber Ivey (AI):

The funny thing is, Gen Z is doing that now. They're actually, I just read about this, they're actually taking like they're getting together to like in their social media accounts, which is super cool.

Dr. Sonia Tiwari:

Yeah, that's amazing. And like I my my son is 12, doesn't have a phone, and uh he's like, Well, I I have I see all my friends anyway, so it's fine. Like, he is not like dying to get his phone, so that was such a relief, and that is so cool. We have like this assumption about children that oh, you know, Bay Area kids are so into AI, all they want is tech. And I'm like, no, they're kids too, you know, they just want to play together.

Amber Ivey (AI):

That is so true. And I was reading, I don't know why I was reading so much about all these topics this weekend, but it was one of those weekends, and it was like there was one kid who also didn't have a phone, parents didn't give a phone, and they were like, I'm glad I don't have a phone. My pay my friends don't know how to talk to each other outside of like looking at their phones or whatever. So they've developed even more social skills because they didn't have access to a phone, which is so interesting and just something to think about at with all these different technologies. Is there anything else you want to make sure um we share about AI characters or any of your work?

Dr. Sonia Tiwari:

I think like just uh at least for parents who have lived in a world most of their life where characters existed without AI, they can maybe understand this comparison that in traditional media, we had a lot of visual and audio cues about whether a character is good or bad. Uh, like if it's a it's a you know children's book, there were there was very clearly uh a leading character and a side character. If it's like a Disney movie, the the villains had like angular designs and like really evil laughter. And so it was a very clear giveaway what it is. In AI characters, that's where the deception is because there's no clear marker of what this character is, what's it about to do, and even the audio clues, like the Jaws movie, where the music comes up like duh duh duh duh. You knew that the shark is gonna attack right now, but like there's no audio clue either. And so that's where we that's why we need to build this muscle of uh an intuition almost uh through AI literacy of understanding when something seems off. But it's it's not something that you develop without getting exposed to technology. So think of just um exposure to technology, experimentation with technology as a uh sandbox to practice that muscle.

Amber Ivey (AI):

That is a very good example, and I didn't even think about it, but you are right, the or whatever it was that lets you know someone's about to do something bad, but now you go to smile fluffy thing um telling you bad things, and that's such a good point that you brought up. And anything else that we should think about or you want to push parents or kids towards before we wrap that isn't just just being curious and uh asking for help instead of trying to go at anything alone. I think that's the perfect way to end it. Kids, AI characters are everywhere, and the reality is you're dealing with a new version of a character. Make sure you um interact with those, with your parents or with your teachers involved. And we just want to thank Dr. Sonia for taking time today to explain to us what's happening out there in the world. We learned a ton about AI characters and seekers, even I keep learning from these. So I hope you all learned as well. We learned about the good parts, the bad parts, the risks. And the reality is they're here. And I hope that parents, you feel a little bit more confident to deal with this. And I just want to thank everyone for listening and make sure you check out Dr. Tawari's upcoming her um LinkedIn and any of the other things in the show notes that she mentioned today, including her research. Thank you so much, Dr. Tawari, and we will see you soon. Thank you. Thank you for joining us as we explore the fascinating world of artificial intelligence. Don't keep this adventure to yourself. Download it, share it with your friends, and let everyone else in on the fun. Subscribe wherever you get your podcast or on YouTube. See you next time on AI for kids.

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Amber Ivey (AI)

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