Designing AI for Youth Flourishing: From Research to Policy

October 14, 2025
Webb Library, Jesus College,
University of Cambridge
5:30pm - 6:30pm

Join global leaders from academia, research and industry for a dynamic discussion on how we might design and shape the future of AI to help young people thrive.

Co-hosted by the Noēsis Collaborative and the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence at the University of Cambridge, this open session welcomes students, researchers, and the wider Cambridge community.

This event is part of Shaping the future of AI policy for youth well-being.

Please note: space is limited and spots are available on a first-come, first-served.

What to Expect

This public fireside chat explores one of the most important questions of our time:

How can AI be designed and governed to truly support the flourishing of young people?

Moderated by Ron Ivey (Harvard Human Flourishing Program) with Professors Sonia Livingstone (LSE) and Henry Shevlin (University of Cambridge), the discussion brings together leading voices in research, policy, and technology to explore how evidence, ethics, and design can work in concert to shape a more human-centered future for AI.

The conversation will examine how insights from children’s digital lives and youth development research can inform responsible design, governance, and policy frameworks, moving beyond risk to focus on creativity, connection, and capability. Panelists will also discuss opportunities for transatlantic collaboration and the shared responsibility of technologists, educators, and policymakers to ensure AI serves the next generation’s well-being and growth.

Students, researchers, and the Cambridge community are warmly invited to join this dynamic session bridging research and real-world application.

The event will be recorded, and journalists are welcome to attend.

Featured Speakers & Partners

Speakers:

  • Ron Ivey — CEO & Founder, Noēsis Collaborative; Research Fellow, Harvard Human Flourishing Program

  • Prof. Sonia Livingstone — Professor, Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics; Author of Parenting for a Digital Future; Director, Digital Futures for Children (LSE/5Rights Foundation)

  • Prof. Henry Shevlin — Associate Teaching Professor & Director, Kinds of Intelligence Program; Associate Director, Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, University of Cambridge

Co-hosts: HumanConnections.AI, an initiative of Noēsis Collaborative and the University of Cambridge: Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence 

Featured Partners: IEEE, Harvard Human Flourishing Program, London School of Economics, USC McNeely Center for Ethical Leadership, Young People’s Alliance

Sponsors: Einhorn Collaborative, Omidyar Network, the Risman Foundation

Recommended Reading

Designing AI to Help Children Flourish

Current AI governance frameworks often overlook the developmental needs and rights of children, failing to ensure that AI technologies foster human flourishing rather than cause harm. This brief for the G20 argues that AI companies have both an opportunity and a responsibility to prioritize child well-being by designing chatbots that enhance, rather than replace, human relationships. The principles and recommendations of this brief will form the foundation of the workshop design.

Social AI and Human Connections: Benefits, Risks and Social Impact

Drawing on a review of recent literature, expert interviews, a Salon with leading technologists and scholars, and webinars with Social AI researchers, the paper explores the question: How might we design AI systems for social connectedness and human flourishing?  This whitepaper provides a framework for how to think about the human choices in the design, governance, and use of AI systems and how those choices impact our social and emotional capabilities.

Ethics at the Frontier of Human-AI Relationships

The prospect of humans forming ongoing relationships with AI, across social, professional, and even romantic contexts, has long been imagined. Recent advances in machine learning and natural language processing, however, have brought this possibility into widespread practice. Platforms such as Replika, Xiaoice, and CharacterAI now engage millions of active users in emotionally complex exchanges. This paper traces these developments, offering historical and technical context, a framework for classifying human–AI relationships, and an analysis of their ethical stakes and social impacts. It concludes by noting instructive parallels between the rise of Social AI and the trajectory of social media.

The anthropomimetic turn in contemporary AI

This paper identifies an anthropomimetic turn in AI: the deliberate design of systems with humanlike features. Unlike anthropomorphism, which arises from human perception, anthropomimesis is embedded in the architecture of contemporary Large Language Models such as ChatGPT, which convincingly mirror human conversation and cognition. The paper highlights potential benefits, including accessibility, educational and healthcare applications, and companionship, while also addressing risks such as manipulation, impersonation, alignment challenges, and questions of authenticity. It concludes by calling for interdisciplinary research and regulatory frameworks to guide the development of anthropomimetic AI.