The Safe AI For Children Newsletter – Welcome to Our Growing Community!
📰 Welcome to the Safe AI for Children Alliance (SAIFCA) newsletter! We’re so happy to have you on board as we work to build a safer AI future for children.
If you find this newsletter valuable, please consider sharing it with others who care about children's safety in an increasingly AI-powered world. The more people we reach, the greater our collective impact!
📌 In this edition:
- A warm welcome to our new supporters
- The key AI risks to children – and how to learn more
- Advocate programme update
- SAIFCA joins the Beneficial AI for Children Coalition
- Recommended read: The Impact of AI in Education
- Two new talks: ‘AI Risks to Children, for Children’ and ‘Griefbots: Digital Ghosts’
- Try it yourself: Create a deepfake (safely!) to understand the risks
- 💡 One Key Action You Can Take This Month
Have questions or feedback? Drop us a line any time at: info@safeaiforchildren.org
🎉 Welcome to Our New Supporters!
We’ve been blown away by the response to SAIFCA – thank you to every single person who has signed up, shared our work, or offered support. You are part of a growing movement to protect children and shape a future where AI serves their well-being.
A special thank you to Alan Robertson, UK Ambassador at the Global Council for Responsible AI, whose viral LinkedIn post listing volunteer opportunities in AI ethics introduced many new faces to SAIFCA. We’re very grateful!
⚠️ AI Risks to Children – What You Need to Know
We’ve published two key resources on the SAIFCA website to help parents, educators, and policymakers understand the biggest risks AI poses to children:
- A comprehensive guide
- A quick overview with a downloadable PDF
Please share them widely – particularly with educators, who can pass this knowledge on to colleagues, children, and parents.
📖 AI Risks to Children: A Comprehensive Guide
📥 AI Risks to Children: A Quick Guide for Parents
🗣️ Update on Our Advocates
Applications for our first round of SAIFCA Advocates have now closed – and we were amazed by the number and quality of submissions! It’s incredibly inspiring to see so many people passionate about protecting children in the age of AI.
Due to the volume of applications, announcements will take a little longer than planned – but we can’t wait to introduce our Advocates very soon!
Interested in applying next time? Learn more about the role here: 👉 SAIFCA Advocates
🤝 SAIFCA Joins the Beneficial AI for Children Coalition
This month, we joined the Beneficial AI for Children Coalition – a global initiative launched at the AI Action Summit by everyone.AI and the Paris Peace Forum.
We’re proud to stand alongside organisations like the NSPCC, The Future Society, Common Sense Media, and The Alan Turing Institute, working collaboratively to reduce AI-related harms and ensure AI is used responsibly for children’s well-being.
The Coalition also includes leading tech companies like Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic, and is supported by UNICEF and UNESCO. Participating experts include Stuart Russell, David Harris, Sonia Livingstone, and many others.
As AI continues to reshape the world, children must not be left behind – or left at risk. Together, we can build a safer, more thoughtful AI future.
📚 Recommended Read: The Impact of AI in Education
By Joe Cozens, via the Future of Life Institute
This month’s recommended read explores how AI is reshaping education – and the challenges this poses for schools, teachers, and students alike. It’s a timely and important piece as we consider both the risks and the opportunities of AI in the classroom.
Let us know what you think!
a guest blogger
🎤 New Talks
🎓 'AI Risks to Children – for Children'
As part of the i-Think AI Challenge in Canada, SAIFCA Director Tara Steele gave an online talk to around 2,000 students aged 11–18, covering:
- Deepfakes
- Misinformation
- AI algorithms
- Online safety and privacy
- Critical thinking
- Careers in AI
You can watch the talk below, starting at 8:00 (it's not searchable on YouTube) 🎥
(And don’t miss what might be the most British understatement of the year at 34:55 - 35:07…)
💔 ‘Griefbots: Digital Ghosts’
Tara also gave a talk about griefbots – AI systems that simulate deceased loved ones. This rapidly emerging technology raises difficult questions about emotional well-being, identity, and how children process loss.
This talk was part of the Sheild Global Online Safety Conference - we highly recommend checking out the other talks from the event too.
🧪 Try It: Create Your Own Deepfake
One of the most significant AI risks facing children today is the rise of deepfakes – including the creation of non-consensual and explicit content that can be used to harm, blackmail, or manipulate others.
To understand the power (and danger) of this tech, we recommend trying the Deepfake Sandbox by CivAI. It lets you create a lighthearted deepfake of yourself in seconds – and it’s surprisingly effective at raising awareness.
➡️ The tool won’t work with children’s faces (intentionally), but we believe it can be a safe and engaging way to start a conversation with older children. Try it here:
💡 One Key Action You Can Take This Month
Invite one person to join the Safe AI for Children Alliance.
If everyone reading this newsletter invited just one friend, parent, or educator to subscribe, we’d double our reach – and double our impact.
Every new supporter helps us protect more children and push for stronger AI governance.
👉 Ask someone you know to subscribe!
Thank you once again for supporting SAIFCA. With your help, we’ve already taken meaningful steps toward a safer AI future for children – and we’re only just getting started!
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