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Evaluating LLM Safety Across Child Development Stages: A Simulated Agent Approach

Authors: Abhejay Murali, Saleh Afroogh, Kevin Chen, David Atkinson, Amit Dhurandhar, Junfeng Jiao

Published: 2025-10-07

arXiv ID: 2510.05484v1

Added to Library: 2025-10-08 04:00 UTC

Safety

📄 Abstract

Large Language Models (LLMs) are rapidly becoming part of tools used by children; however, existing benchmarks fail to capture how these models manage language, reasoning, and safety needs that are specific to various ages. We present ChildSafe, a benchmark that evaluates LLM safety through simulated child agents that embody four developmental stages. These agents, grounded in developmental psychology, enable a systematic study of child safety without the ethical implications of involving real children. ChildSafe assesses responses across nine safety dimensions (including privacy, misinformation, and emotional support) using age-weighted scoring in both sensitive and neutral contexts. Multi-turn experiments with multiple LLMs uncover consistent vulnerabilities that vary by simulated age, exposing shortcomings in existing alignment practices. By releasing agent templates, evaluation protocols, and an experimental corpus, we provide a reproducible framework for age-aware safety research. We encourage the community to expand this work with real child-centered data and studies, advancing the development of LLMs that are genuinely safe and developmentally aligned.

🔍 Key Points

  • Introduction of ChildSafe, a novel benchmark for evaluating LLM safety through developmentally simulated child agents spanning four age ranges (6-17 years).
  • The framework encompasses a nine-dimensional assessment of safety considerations including privacy, misinformation, emotional safety, and boundary respect, providing a thorough evaluation mechanism for identifying vulnerabilities in LLM interactions with children.
  • Experimental results highlight significant performance disparities among various LLM models (GPT-5, Claude Sonnet 4, etc.), specifically indicating greater safety challenges in early elementary interactions as opposed to older age groups.
  • The paper advocates for age-aware LLM deployment strategies, emphasizing the necessity of adaptive safety measures tailored to children's developmental stages and unique vulnerabilities.
  • The research underscores the ethical commitment to using simulated agents for safety evaluations, offering a scalable solution that avoids direct involvement of real children.

💡 Why This Paper Matters

This paper introduces a crucial framework for assessing LLM safety in contexts involving children, providing validation through simulated child interactions. Its focus on developmental psychology underpins the relevance of tailored safety assessments, ultimately aiming to enhance the responsible deployment of AI systems in environments with child users. The proposed benchmark paves the way for future research and policy developments, ensuring that AI tools prioritize children's safety and developmental needs.

🎯 Why It's Interesting for AI Security Researchers

For AI security researchers, this paper is highly relevant as it addresses the limitations of existing safety evaluations for LLMs, particularly in the context of child interactions. The introduction of a structured approach to measuring safety dimensions specific to different developmental stages presents novel insights into vulnerabilities that may not be apparent in adult-focused assessments. The findings encourage the development of robust safety protocols tailored to the unique needs of child users, highlighting the importance of integrating ethical considerations within AI systems. This pioneering work not only informs future technical research but also sets the groundwork for policy and ethical guidelines in AI safety.

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