"I had a real conversation with the kid!"

A domestic research team has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) communication tool app that induces meaningful conversations between parents and children with minimal speech autism who have difficulty expressing themselves verbally.



The families who participated in this study expressed deep emotion, saying, "It felt like I was having a real conversation with my child for the first time."



The research team of Professor Hong Hwa-jeong of the Department of Industrial Design at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST, President Lee Kwang-hyung) collaborated with Naver AI Lab and Dodakim Child Development Center to present 'AccessTalk', an AI-based communication tool that enables genuine communication between children with



autism and their parents. AccessTalk system. It provides personalized vocabulary cards to children with autism and context-based conversation guides to parents so that they can focus on practical communication. [Photo = KAIST]



This study won the Best Paper Award at the ACM CHI 2025, an international academic conference held in Yokohama, Japan. It received international attention for its high evaluation of a human-centered AI approach.



AccessTalk is a tablet-based AI communication system designed to encourage meaningful conversations between parents and children with minimally verbal autism (MVA) who have difficulty expressing themselves verbally.



Existing augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) tools only support limited card communication, which limits them from sufficiently reflecting children's interests or subtle emotions.



The research team used AI technology to recommend personalized word cards that reflect children's interests and context in real time. The system was designed to provide parents with specific conversation guides according to the situation.



It also includes functions to enhance children's communication initiative. A large "conversation transition button" allows children to directly decide when to start or end a conversation. In addition, they can ask their parents what they think by pressing the question button "What about Mom?"



Most of the families who participated in the study experienced their children asking their parents questions for the first time in their lives by using this function. The parents reported, "It felt like I was having a real conversation with my child for the first time."



In a field study conducted with 11 families over a period of two weeks, parents experienced richer conversations by breaking away from routine and repetitive communication patterns through the conversation guide provided by AI.



The children also actively expressed their opinions and took the lead in conversation. One caregiver said, "I was surprised that my child used unexpected words, and this helped me understand my child's language ability more deeply."



Professor Hong Hwa-jeong explained, "It is most important to create an environment where children can express their own voices," and "Through this study, we confirmed that AI can be a tool that not only increases the efficiency of communication, but also promotes true connection and understanding between families."



She added, "The research team plans to continue developing human-centered technologies that respect and embrace neurodiversity in the future," and "We plan to expand practical technology applications and user experience-based research for the socially disadvantaged."



This study (paper title: AACessTalk: Fostering Communication between Minimally Verbal Autistic Children and Parents with Contextual Guidance and Card Recommendation) is the result of KAIST Industrial Design Department Doctoral Student Dasom Choi's internship at Naver AI Lab.





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