Generative AI is rapidly changing growing up in Norway and elsewhere. Children and young people’s everyday lives are increasingly entangled with AI, on social media and other digital platforms.
This SIFO Digital Cultures lecture and report launch event addresses key questions around these developments: What counts as meaningful transparency, who should be accountable, and how can young people’s perspectives guide the next steps in policy and practice in AI?
Program
13:00-14:15
Public lecture by Professor Andra Siibak
“Children and youth in the world of artificial (un)intelligence”
Artificial intelligence-based technologies are beginning to shape the lives of today's children even before they are born. The lecture tackles how the use of artificial intelligence-based technologies at home, in school, in peer networks and on the national level has begun to change what it means to be a child and grow up in the world of artificial (un)intelligence.
Based on the results of empirical research conducted with young people in Estonia as well as international scholarly literature, the lecture will showcase the risks inherent in the increasingly active use of artificial intelligence-based technologies. Furthermore, it suggests some steps parents, educators and policymakers should immediately take to ensure the rights and well-being of children and young people in society saturated with artificial intelligence.
The presentation is based on the monograph "Children and AI: changing digital childhoods?" (Palgrave, to be published in July 2026) written in collaboration with Andra Siibak and Giovanna Mascheroni (Universita Cattolica).
Moderation: Research Professor Mikko Laamanen, SIFO
About Andra Siibak
Andra Siibak is a Professor of Media Studies and a Deputy Head of Research and Development, and Program Leader for the Media and Communication doctoral studies, at the Institute of Social Studies, University of Tartu (UT), Estonia.
Her research focuses on the opportunities and risks of children’s use of AI-based technologies and internet; datafication of childhood; digital parenting; dataveillance in education; intergenerational relations on social media; privacy and smart technologies. She has also studied various cyber risks and harms (e.g. fake news, deepfakes, social engineering scams, phishing, surveillance, privacy issues).
Andra has authored about 100 peer-reviewed international journal articles and chapters in edited collections. Together with Giovanna Mascheroni she has co-authored two monographs “Datafied Childhoods: Data Practices and Imaginaries in Children’s Lives” (Peter Lang, 2021), and “Children and AI: Changing Digital Lives” (Palgrave, forthcoming in July 2026). Currently she is co-editing a Routledge Handbook on Digital Privacy and Surveillance Through the Lifecourse (together with Kelly Quinn, Christoph Lutz and Cory Robinson) and working on her monograph in Estonian “Children in the world of artificial (un)intelligence” (funded by the book grant by the Postimees Foundation).
Andra is a member of Academy of Europe and a founding member of the Estonian Young Academy of Sciences. She is also serving in the Governing Body of the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA) and is a Vice President for the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR).
14:30-16:00
Report launch
Clara Julia Reich, Kamilla K. Steinnes, Dag Slettemeås, Mikko J. Laamanen and Henry Mainsah: ‘A balancing act’: A multi-stakeholder study on the Norwegian retouched person label and generative AI in advertising (nva.sikt.no). SIFO report 4-2026
Panel discussion
“AI in commercial messaging: transparency, trust, and young audiences”
This panel draws on SIFO’s multi-stakeholder study of Norway’s retouched person label and the rise of generative AI in advertising to discuss how AI is reshaping commercial communication and what this means for children and youth. The report shows a field marked by trade-offs: the current label is valued as a transparency signal, yet it is also criticised for ambiguity, uneven use, and limited ability to address deeper pressures related to beauty ideals and pervasive marketing exposure. At the same time, generative AI enables synthetic models and AI-generated advertising that can be difficult to detect, potentially intensifying concerns about deception, trust, and unrealistic appearance standards. Most importantly, the use of such images is not regulated.
Panelists will debate what meaningful transparency could look like in AI-mediated marketing, including whether and how to label AI-generated humans in advertising, how responsibilities should be shared among advertisers, platforms, and regulators, and how we can centre young people’s experiences in future policy and practice
Panelists include Professor Andra Siibak + others TBC
Moderation: Dr Clara Julia Reich, SIFO, project leader for Retouched Advertising
16:00-17:00
Socialisation with food and drink
SIFO invites particapants and audience to an event of food and drink in the area "Sydøst" in Pilestredet 35. Please sign up for attendance.
