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.