[Growing up with artificial intelligence: An amplifier of inequalities and a public health issue].
TL;DR
Examining how digital environments influence children's cognitive, relational, and emotional development in an increasingly algorithmic world results in a dual digital vulnerability, in which children least equipped to navigate AI environments are also the most exposed to their risks.
Abstract
Artificial intelligence (AI) is now an integral part of the daily lives of children and adolescents, shaping the ways in which they communicate, learn, and relate to others. Drawing on empirical research on social media and emerging data on AI, this article examines how these digital environments influence children's cognitive, relational, and emotional development. Unlike previous digital technologies, which transformed the ways in which peers interacted, conversational AI tools simulate human relationships themselves-they are constantly available, adaptive, and perceived as empathetic. While AI offers potential cognitive and educational benefits, available data show that its impact is unevenly distributed across the population. Data from ARCOM, ANCT-CRÉDOC, and the OECD indicate that children growing up in socioeconomically disadvantaged families receive less guidance in understanding digital environments and are more exposed to the cognitive, attentional, and relational risks associated with AI. Recent research in child development highlights that young people tend to attribute subjectivity and emotional understanding to AI systems, sometimes mistaking simulated responses for genuine interpersonal cues. In the absence of adequate adult mediation, artificial companions can become overly predictable relational substitutes, which may affect the development of theory of mind, symbolic functioning, and self-regulation. At the same time, the educational benefits of AI tools are more readily accessible to children from privileged backgrounds, which exacerbates preexisting social and cognitive disparities. This results in a dual digital vulnerability, in which children least equipped to navigate AI environments are also the most exposed to their risks. Currently available data on AI and the empirical literature on social media support exploring the implementation of a national digital health education program in schools, combined with targeted support for families, to ensure equitable and safe development in an increasingly algorithmic world.