Designing for Parasocial Relationships and Learning: Linear Video, Interactive Media, and Artificial Intelligence.

Children today are surrounded by media characters who populate their experiences with video, audio, games, books, clothing, toys, robots, and interactive platforms -- all with growing potential for personalization, adaptivity, and intelligence. In this paper, we describe our experience designing for \"parasocial\" relations between children and characters using video, interactive media, and artificial intelligence (AI), with reference to related empirical research, and a theoretical model and framework within which to understand these phenomena. The goal of this paper is to spark discussion about the future of character design in the IDC community, with a view to guiding research, development, theory, and policy recommendations; and, facilitating collaboration across disciplines and industries in order to benefit children's learning and healthy development.