Child-Friendly Human-AI Interaction: Designing Tangible User Interfaces for Preschool Children to Prompt Generative AI

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) encompasses advanced computational models that can generate coherent and high-quality content when prompted such as text, images, videos, tunes and codes, by leveraging the patterns and structures present in the data they have been trained with. Popular examples of commercial tools using such models are ChatGPT (text-to-text), Midjourney (text-to-image) and Vizcom (image-to-image). Current use cases are largely developed for general or professional use purposes, which are not suitable for child users due to unregulated content, lack of child-friendly use cases or age-appropriate interaction modalities. Therefore, we propose tangible user interfaces (TUIs) as a potentially suitable approach that bridges the physical and digital world by utilising physical interaction to engage with computers. Interaction with TUIs involves physically manipulating technologically augmented objects to control the digital output. Compared to graphical user interface (GUI) which relies on indirect manipulation via “windows, icons, menus, pointer” (WIMP), TUIs provide direct manipulation, hence are more straightforward. For these reasons, TUIs are considered developmentally appropriate for preschool children, who seek concrete interactions due to still-emerging abstract thinking and fine motor skills. This paper presents a case study, a six-week design project carried out in an undergraduate industrial design programme, during which students were expected to design tangibles to create child-friendly digital content. Throughout the project, students developed TUIs for prompting generative AI to create interactive experiences that are developmentally appropriate and engaging for preschool children. The outputs were conceptual designs that made use of TUIs for media generation such as composing songs, writing stories, creating artwork and virtual environments. In this paper, we present the educational frame and sample conceptual design outputs. We discuss potential design strategies to consider while developing child-friendly human-AI interactions, such as customisation scenarios, parental roles, and balancing physical and digital interactions. Our work contributes to the user-centred development of future technologies that offer meaningful, engaging and safe experiences for children.