Vithravini Murugavel
Research Mentor: Lauren Girouard
Mentor Department: Psychology, LSA
Author(s): Vithravini Murugavel, Lauren Girouard
Session: Session 1 (9:00 AM – 9:50 AM)
Presentation Type: Oral Presentation
Abstract
Problem: Artificial Intelligence (AI) allows people to complete tasks more efficiently by retrieving summarized answers to questions in real-time. Children often prefer technological sources (e.g., smart speakers, search engines) to human ones, but whether they do the same thing with AI is an open question [1-4]. This study explored whether and why children trust chatbots over human sources. Procedure: In this study, 125 7- to 14-year-old children were asked about their trust in a grownup, a doctor, and an AI chatbot for answering questions about their health. Each child was shown three pairs of the possible informants (e.g., chatbot vs. grownup). Children were then asked to pick which of the informants in the pair they would rather ask questions about their own health and to explain their choice. Results: Doctors were chosen significantly more than chatbots (98% of responses, ?²(1)=113.288, p<.001) and grownups (96% of responses, ?²(1) = 105.800, p<.001), while grownups were chosen significantly more than chatbots (60% of responses, ?²(1)=5.000, p=.025). When choosing between grownups and chatbots, children provided a variety of reasons, including source credibility (38%), their beliefs about technology (29%), the capabilities/limitations of people (19%), and their potential relationship/comfort with a person (19%). Conclusions: Children prefer humans over chatbots to ask questions about their health. Children believe they can trust adults because of their experiences and perceptions. Children recognize that an AI chatbot is fast, and perhaps accurate, but cannot experience or empathize. References: [1] Girouard-Hallam, L.N. & Danovitch, J.H. (2025). Children’s trust in Google’s ability to answer questions about the past, present, and future. Computers in Human Behavior, 108596. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2024.108496. [2] Girouard-Hallam, L.N. & Danovitch, J.H. (2024). How does Google get its information?: Children’s judgments about Google search. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 42(3), 334-347. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjdp.12487 [3] Girouard-Hallam, L.N, & Danovitch, J.H. (2023). Children’s interactions with virtual assistants: Moving beyond depictions of social agents. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 46, e34. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X22001649 [4] Girouard-Hallam, L.N., & Danovitch, J.H. (2022). Children’s trust in and learning from digital voice assistants. Developmental Psychology, 58(4), 646–661. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001318
