Workshop: AI Ethics for Children and Adolescents

22 & 23 October 2026, University of Salzburg

Organizers: Gottfried Schweiger (Salzburg) & Karoline Reinhardt (Passau)

Deadline (Abstracts): 15 April 2026
Deadline (draft papers): 1 October 2026

Children and adolescents have received little attention in the AI ethics literature thus far, although they are increasingly confronted with this technology in all aspects of their lives and it brings with it specific risks and dangers, but also opportunities (for example Wang et al. 2024; Collyer-Hoar and Rubegni 2025). The aim of this workshop is therefore to reflect how central concepts in theories of AI ethics can be meaningfully applied to children and adolescents and where these need to be adapted accordingly. This includes, among others, the concepts of trust and trustworthiness, (informed) consent, privacy, explainability, dignity, well-being as well as bias and justice. All of these are discussed broadly and sometimes controversially in AI ethics literature, but in most cases cannot simply be applied to children and adolescents.

For example, on the one hand children and adolescents are particularly dependent on trusting relationships, but on the other hand cannot yet adequately assess whom or what they should trust and why. This means that trust must also be understood as a developmental task for them and they must be particularly protected from exploitation of their trust. Likewise, informed consent (for instance in the context of using AI in apps) and explainability are connected with special ethical requirements for them, which neither limits children and adolescents into the roles of passive objects nor views them as fully autonomous subjects, but rather analyzes what form of explainability would be appropriate for them.

This workshop aims to explore AI ethics, its core concepts and theories, and their application to children and adolescents in order to account for their specific needs, abilities, interests, vulnerabilities, as well as their social relations and environments. We particularly welcome proposals that critically reflect on childhood and adolescence, are attentive to diversity dimensions (e.g., gender, race, age, disability, socio-economic status), and take intersectional perspectives seriously.

Submissions & Publication

Submissions may approach these topics through conceptual analysis, case studies, or ethical reflections based on empirical findings. We invite to send us abstracts of 500 words (in Word format) and a brief CV. Please send your abstract before April 15, 2026

Draft papers will be circulated among all participants two weeks prior to the workshop. Presenters are expected to attend in person for the entire duration. Papers from this workshop will be submitted for a Special Issue in AI and Ethics. More info on this topical collection here:  https://link.springer.com/collections/jhfhiiheaj

A contribution towards travel and accommodation expenses of up to €500 can be provided. Please indicate in your application if you would need that support. This workshop is financially supported by the Salzburg Ethics Initiative.

Organizers

 Karoline Reinhardt is Professor of Applied Ethics with a focus on digitalization at the University of Passau. She has published several articles on trust and trustworthiness, explainability and diversity., among others, „ Trust and Trustworthiness“ (AI & Ethics 2023) and „ XAI: On Explainability and the Obligation to Explain“ (Digital Society 2025) as well as several other papers in AI Ethics.

Gottfried Schweiger is Senior Scientist at the University of Salzburg. His publications include the co-authored monograph „ What is a Good Childhood? A Philosophical Approach“ (Palgrave Macmillan 2024) and the recent monograph „ Global Justice for Children“ (Routledge 2025).

References

Collyer-Hoar, Gail, and Elisa Rubegni. 2025. „“Won’t somebody please (actually) think of the children?” AI Ethics for Children: A Scoping Review.“ ACM J. Responsib. Comput. 2 (2):Article 10. doi: 10.1145/3745031

Wang, Ge, Jun Zhao, Max Van Kleek, and Nigel Shadbolt. 2024. „Challenges and opportunities in translating ethical AI principles into practice for children.“ Nature Machine Intelligence 6 (3):265-270. doi: 10.1038/s42256-024-00805-x.