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Podcast Episode

AI and Early Childhood Development: The Importance of Human Interaction

The Pie: An Economics Podcast·Becker Friedman Institute at UChicago·17 July 2026·42 min

About this episode

At a time when forty percent of American two-year-olds have their own tablet, a new generation of AI toys and chatbots is being marketed as a better alternative to screens. On this episode, Dana Suskind, pediatric cochlear implant surgeon, co-director of the TMW Center for Early Learning and Public Health, and author of the new book Human Raised, explains the importance of human interaction for children's brain development.