Children and the future of AI | Dr Mhairi Aitken | TEDxWolverhampton

In her talk, Children Are Not the Future, Dr Mhairi Aitken challenges the familiar idea that children should be valued primarily for who they will become. Drawing on her work as an AI ethics researcher, she explains that artificial intelligence is already shaping children’s education, healthcare, social lives and opportunities, yet their voices are rarely included in the decisions being made. Mhairi explores common misconceptions that adults always know best or that AI is too complex for children to understand. She argues that children offer valuable insights into the risks, opportunities and ethical impact of AI, and must be recognised not simply as the future, but as part of the here and now. Dr Mhairi Aitken is an internationally recognised expert in AI ethics and responsible innovation, with a focus on children’s relationships with AI. In 2025 she organised the world’s first Children’s AI Summit. Mhairi is a Co-Founder and Director of Our AI Collective, a community interest company dedicated to giving the public a voice in shaping the future of AI. Previously, between 2020 and 2026, she was Senior Ethics Fellow at The Alan Turing Institute (the UK’s national institute for AI and data science), where she led a groundbreaking programme of research on Children and AI including collaborations with UNICEF, the Council of Europe Steering Committee on the Rights of the Child, Children’s Parliament and the LEGO Group. Mhairi is a frequent contributor to media discussions around AI, and was included in the international list of “100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics”. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx