Conversational artificial intelligence and children's social-emotional development: a scoping review.

UNLABELLED: 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.

CONCLUSION: Conversational 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.