Artificial intelligence is no longer a futuristic concept. It’s already shaping how children learn, play, create and connect.
University of Virginia assistant professor of data science and media studies Mona Sloan studies how artificial intelligence is becoming embedded into all aspects of everyday life.
On Feb. 11, she will moderate an event exploring what it means to grow up in the AI age. The event, part of her Co-Opting AI series, brings together experts to explore how AI is changing childhood and what adults need to understand.
Ahead of the event, UVA Today spoke with her about her work and what she hopes to cover in the upcoming conversation. Interested attendees can register to join online or in-person.
University of Virginia assistant professor of data science and media studies Mona Sloan's research focuses on AI accountability, policy and governance, among other related areas. (Contributed photo)
Q. What is Co-Opting AI?
A. It is an event series I have been running since 2019 through UVA’s Digital Technology for Democracy Lab, in collaboration with the (New York University) Institute for Public Knowledge. The event series looks to ask bigger questions about what kinds of social, political and economic changes are afoot as these predictive systems get baked into social life.
Each event has a focus on a real-world phenomenon or a domain. I’ve hosted events from national security to food to intimacy to cars, and this next one is going to be on kids. And what that allows me to do is to bring in different experts who do synergistic work on that specific topic.
Q. What experts are you bringing in for the “kids” conversation?
A. I have my dear colleague, Ashleigh Greene Wade, an expert on social media and Black girlhood who is really knowledgeable in the lived experience of Black girls as digital systems evolve and become integrated. Sonia Livingstone will be joining us from the London School of Economics. She is a veteran of digital children’s rights and does meaningful work on what rights kids ought to have in this really complicated and rapidly evolving world. Annabelle Blake is a design practitioner. They work at Canva, where they are a principal design researcher, but are also enrolled in a doctoral program.
Annabelle does really interesting work answering the questions, “How do kids even use AI in creative ways? How do they interact with chatbots and agents as part of a creative practice? What are these patterns that we see in these imaginative engagements with AI systems? How do we design for kids in that space, a little bit also geared toward education?”
