On the good-enough effect
children reflect on their AI-generated portraits
Additional information
Authors
Zanardi I.,
Dedò S.,
Landoni M.
Type
Article in conference proceedings
Year
2025
Language
English
Abstract
In this pictorial, we describe an activity in which 26 10-year-old children used GenAI to create self-portraits by choosing one of four generated images, suggesting changes, and reflecting on their overall experience. By analyzing their choices and rejections, we investigated whether GenAI could elicit meaningful reflection on its limitations, particularly in representing diverse identities. While we saw moments of awareness, many children accepted results that were simply “good enough,” often focusing on surface-level changes. This Good Enough Effect emphasizes the risk of initial satisfaction limiting more profound engagement. Our main contribution is to show GenAI's ability to spark reflection while also emphasizing the importance of intentional scaffolding in moving beyond acceptance to a more critical understanding of AI and identity.
Keywords
GenAI, Children, Biases, Reflection
Conference proceedings
Interaction Design and Children (IDC)
Meeting name
IDC '25: Interaction Design and Children
Meeting place
Reykjavik Iceland
Meeting date
June 2025
Pages (or article number)
154-157
SDG
Gender equality
Diffusion
License
CC BY
Visibility
Public
Status open access
Gold
