Mathilde Cerioli, PhD
Cognitive neuroscientist working on AI and child development.
Co-founder & Chief Scientist, everyone.AI
Chief Scientist, iRAISE
Member, OpenAI Expert Council on Well-Being and AI
How AI responds matters for how children develop
When a child asks AI for help with homework, the interaction can encourage them to reason, check, and try again, or give them the answer before they have had a chance to think. These choices matter when children are still developing the capacities they will rely on throughout their lives.
My research examines AI interactions through that developmental lens: how they may shape learning, autonomy, trust, and relationships. I lead the development of CALIBER, a method for making AI behaviors observable and measurable, so we can investigate which patterns support development and which warrant concern.
Research needs a place at the table
Decisions about AI are being made while the evidence on its long-term effects is still emerging. We need to use what developmental science already tells us, make uncertainty explicit, and build the research needed to guide what comes next.
As Chief Scientist of iRAISE, the international coalition co-led by everyone.AI and the Paris Peace Forum, I bring researchers, policymakers, industry, and young people into that work. My contributions include co-authoring a scientific mapping of generative AI and child development for G7 discussions.
The aim is practical: bring developmental science into how AI is designed, evaluated, and governed.