Keynote title: Who Should Carry the Risk? Conversational AI and Young People
Keynote abstract: Conversational AI is changing how young people search, learn, seek advice, and make sense of the world. Much of the response has focused on equipping young people with the skills to navigate these systems safely. Those skills matter, but they are only part of the picture. Drawing on research on children, social media, platform governance, and generative AI, I examine what responsibility should sit with young users and what responsibility belongs with the systems, institutions, and business models shaping their digital environments. I argue for moving beyond a model that asks children to adapt to risky technologies toward one that asks how conversational systems can be designed and governed to support safety, agency, and meaningful control.
About the keynote speaker: Jessica Taylor Piotrowski is Professor of Communication in the Digital Society at the University of Amsterdam and Director of the Center for research on Children, Adolescents, and the Media (CcaM). Her research examines how children and adolescents navigate rapidly changing digital environments, with particular attention to social media, digital resilience, generative AI, and the role of platforms and policy in shaping young people’s experiences. She leads and contributes to interdisciplinary initiatives on youth digitality and emerging technologies, bringing together communication science, child-centered research, technology, and governance. Her current work focuses on how emerging technology can support – or undermine – young people’s development.