2025.Jul.20
EVENTSThe 2nd BAIRAL Research Meeting for Fiscal Year 2025
“AI Society Seen through Childhood Studies”
◇BAIRAL（B’AI RA League）
BAIRAL is a study group by young research assistants (RA) of the B’AI Global Forum of the Institute for AI and Beyond at the University of Tokyo. Aiming to achieve gender equality and a guarantee of rights for minorities in the AI era, this study group examines relationships between digital information technology and society. BAIRAL organizes research meetings every other month with guest speakers in a variety of fields.
◇Date & Venue
・Date: Wednesday, July 30, 2025, 6:00 – 7:30 pm (JST)
・Venue: Online via Zoom（No registration required）
https://u-tokyo-ac-jp.zoom.us/j/87869100850?pwd=YrfZkljiRrFOCXybYP2K8a9N5az9RZ.1
Meeting ID: 878 6910 0850
Passcode: 038483
・Language: Japanese
◇Guest Speaker
Dr. Xiao ZHOU, Assistant Professor, Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba
◇Abstract
This presentation uses cases of AI-generated deepfakes and sexual abuse in virtual environments to illuminate the limits of existing law in the digital age and to argue that research in childhood studies provides critical guidance for addressing these problems.
First, within an ostensibly human-centred framework, children are human beings yet are, in practice, sometimes treated in ways analogous to robots (AI). The paradox is especially evident in legal debates over responsibility: in court settings, children—like AI systems—frequently occupy an indeterminate position as (or as not) responsible actors.
Relational approaches in childhood studies respond to this impasse by moving beyond the conventional object/subject framing of “the child” and examining how children are composed within shifting networks of relationships. Viewed this way, the concept of “responsibility” itself becomes open to reconstruction.
Accordingly, when future legal regimes governing AI are considered, insights from childhood studies—particularly those grounded in a relational perspective—may offer a promising pathway for extending, supplementing, or rethinking current legal frameworks that have reached their limits in the digital era.
◇Organizer
B’AI Global Forum, Institute for AI and Beyond at the University of Tokyo
◇Inquiry
MAO YUNFAN (Research assistant of the B’AI Global Forum)
maoyunfan0254[at]g.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp (Please change [at] to @)
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