Promoting children’s fundamental rights in the era of Artificial Intelligence

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15 October 2022

Promoting children’s fundamental rights in the era of Artificial Intelligence

Children and adolescents use social media applications, music recommendation platforms and intelligent tutoring systems on a daily basis. In this context, researchers are currently experimenting with social robots and how they can be used to improve education in the future. One common element of these applications is that they are all based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques.

Image: Adobe Stock / zinkevych

While there is increasing scientific evidence regarding the benefits of AI for children’s development, there are also growing concerns about the emerging risks to children’s fundamental rights. To mitigate these risks, policy institutions have realised that we need a coordinated child-centred approach to promote children’s rights during the design, development and use of AI for children.

In June 2022, the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission published their Science for Policy Report on Artificial Intelligence and the Rights of the Child: Towards an Integrated Agenda for Research and Policy. This report offers an overview of the current policy initiatives on AI and children’s rights, and reviews the scientific evidence for three applications: conversational agents, recommender systems and robotic systems. This is followed by a presentation of the results of a series of workshops with children, policymakers and experts in the field. The report concludes with a set of recommendations, methods and knowledge gaps that need to be pursued in the future.

Requirements	AI minimisation, valuable purpose and sustainability Transparency, explainability, communication and accountability Inclusion and non-discrimination Privacy, data protection and safety Integration and respect of children’s agency
Methods	Anticipation, evaluation and monitoring Multi-stakeholder collaboration Children’s participation Balancing conflicting rights
Knowledge gaps	Children’s cognition, development and play Empowerment through education Developmentally appropriate systems and age verification

Author: Vicky Charisi, Joint Research Centre, European Commission

Promoting children’s fundamental rights in the era of Artificial Intelligence

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