MIT Media Lab + USC Neely Center + Harvard Human Flourishing Program | AHA Speaker Series: Designing AI to Help Children Flourish
Source: media.mit.edu/events/aha-speaker-series-ron-ivey
Abstract
Artificial intelligence (AI) innovation offers numerous benefits, yet its rapid development also presents significant risks, particularly for children. AI chatbots, powered by large language models (LLMs), are becoming increasingly integrated into daily life, with platforms such as ChatGPT and Character.AI attracting hundreds of millions of users, including minors. While AI chatbots can provide mental health support and enhance communication skills, they also pose serious risks, including social isolation, exposure to child abuse, and even suicide. Given the global decline in youth mental health and the documented impact of technology (e.g., social media) on youth well-being, this issue demands urgent attention. 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 presentation 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. To address these risks, we propose creating a Global Task Force on AI and Child Well-Being, led by G20 nations, to develop innovative standards for AI chatbot design and deployment.
This initiative requires a collaborative, multi-sector approach to: 1. Developing an AI design paradigm that promotes children’s social and relational development 2. Codifying this design paradigm into international technical standards and 3. Demonstrating its implementation through independent third-party testing. This presentation presents a roadmap for AI innovation that prioritizes child well-being.
Speaker Bio
Ron Ivey is a writer, researcher, and policy advisor with a focus on social trust, belonging, and human flourishing. He serves as a Research Fellow at the Harvard Human Flourishing Program, co-leading the Trust and Belonging Initiative, and is also a Fellow at both the Centre for Public Impact and the Global Solutions Initiative—advising the G20 on policy evaluation. He has spent 24 years forging impactful collaborations across industry, government, academia, and nonprofits to drive positive social impact. In 2024, he launched HumanConnections.AI to ensure artificial intelligence truly enhances human flourishing and strengthens social bonds. In 2017, he founded the Rembrandt Collective to help businesses develop strategies for trust, alignment, and social impact. Ron sits on multiple advisory boards, including the OECD’s Trust in Business Initiative and is a founding officer of Friends of Notre Dame de Paris, which has raised over $50 million for the Cathedral’s restoration. His work has been profiled in Financial Times, Newsweek, American Affairs, and The New Statesman. Recognized for his thought leadership, Ron has been asked to speak at events like SXSW, the House of Beautiful Business, and the European Alpbach Forum.
Jonathan D. Teubner is a Research Associate at the Human Flourishing Program, where he leads the AI and Flourishing Initiative. He has published broadly in the field of history of philosophy, theology, and cultural sociology, and is the author of Charity after Augustine: Solidarity, Conflict, and the Practices of Charity (Oxford University Press, 2024) and Prayer after Augustine: A Study in the Development of the Latin Tradition (Oxford University Press, 2018), the latter of which won the Manfred Lautenschlaeger Award for Theological Promise in 2019. Along with Sarah Coakley and Richard Cross, Teubner is the co-editor of the Oxford Handbook to the Historical Reception of Theology (Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2025). Teubner has held faculty positions at the Australian Catholic University and at the University of Virginia, where he led a collaborative team of data scientists and scholars across the social sciences to create AI tools to predict political and social violence. Teubner’s insights and analysis have appeared in The New York Times, The Economist, and The Hill, he is regularly interviewed by BBC, CNN, Scripps News and NBC Nightly News, and is a contributing editor at The Hedgehog Review. In 2022, he co-founded FilterLabs, a data analytics company that leverages artificial intelligence to source high-quality localized data in hard-to-reach regions of the world.
Nathanael Fast is an Associate Professor of Management and Organization at the USC Marshall School of Business, Director of the Neely Center for Ethical Leadership and Decision Making, and Co-Director of the Psychology of Technology Institute. He studies the psychological underpinnings of power, leadership, and technology adoption. His research examines how power and status hierarchies shape decision making, how people’s identities shape their professional networks, and how AI is shaping the future. He received his PhD in Organizational Behavior from Stanford University and has been recognized for both teaching and research, including USC’s Golden Apple Teaching Award, the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research, and Poets & Quants.
Ravi Iyer is a technologist and academic psychologist working to improve technology's impact on society. He is currently the Research Director for the USC Marshall School's Neely Center and he helps manage the Psychology of Technology Institute. Previous to this role, he led data science, research, and product teams across Facebook toward improving the societal impact of social media. His work on improving social media's impact on society has been featured in numerous academic articles as well as in press outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Wired. He specifically advocates for design-based solutions that improve social value, while mitigating concerns about over-enforcement. He also was a cofounder and the initial Chief Data Scientist of Ranker.com. He has a Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Southern California. He has published dozens of scholarly articles that have collectively been cited over 10,000 times and written about in dozens of press articles. Most of his scholarly work concerns understanding human values and bridging societal divisions.
