Wiring a child’s brain: what AI can't replace
Dana Suskind is Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics at the University of Chicago and a pediatric cochlear implant surgeon. She earned her BS and MD at the University of Missouri–Kansas City and joined UChicago in 2002, where she founded the Pediatric Hearing Loss and Cochlear Implant Program. Her patients sent her in a new direction. Two children could get identical implants and still have wildly different outcomes, and she saw that the difference was the language around each child, not the device. She left the operating room part-time and founded the Thirty Million Words Initiative in 2010. In 2017 she co-founded the TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health with economist John List. The center supports parents and caregivers with programs on the power of talk and interaction, and argues for the policies families need. She wrote Thirty Million Words (2015) and Parent Nation (2022), an instant New York Times bestseller and Nautilus Gold winner. Her new book, Human Raised: Nurturing Connection, Curiosity & Lifelong Learning in the Age of AI (Dutton, 2026), asks what it takes to raise children well now that machines can mimic the interactions that build their brains. In this episode, Dana talks with Svenia Busson about: Two children, identical cochlear implants, opposite outcomes — and what that taught a surgeon about early language environments The “helpless infant paradox” and brain-to-brain synchrony — why human connection is biological, not just a verbal back-and-forth (drawing on Ruth Feldman’s research) “Good enough” parenting — how friction, missteps, rupture and repair build empathy, theory of mind and frustration tolerance The HOPE framework: Human connection, Own your imperfections, Protect the early years (and learning), Enhance not replace Sycophantic, frictionless AI and children who learn that relationships revolve around them — “no bots for tots,” versus science-led socially assistive robots and robotic reading companions The DETECT method for judging any AI product for children — and a “Developmentally Aligned” seal modelled on the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Good Housekeeping Seal The inequality trap — human connection as “the new organic,” and why a low-tech childhood is the best preparation for a high-tech future Rethinking what schools are for — human-edge skills, and investing in the parks, museums and civic spaces that bring people together A surgeon’s case for keeping childhood human while the machines get smarter. Resources mentioned Human Raised, Dana Suskind (Dutton, 2026) Parent Nation, Dana Suskind with Lydia Denworth TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health, University of Chicago American Academy of Pediatrics, “Digital Ecosystems, Children, and Adolescents” (2026) Common Sense Media, AI Toys Risk Assessment (Jan 2026) Sarah Sebo’s lab (UChicago), robotic reading companions and reading anxiety Brian Scassellati (Yale), social robots and autism Maja Matarić (USC), socially assistive robotics
