UN calls for regulating AI and defending children’s rights

Given the high amount of content harmful to children generated by artificial intelligence (AI), such as sexual harassment, deepfake (fakes of realistic visual content), cyberbullying, inappropriate content and incorporation of harmful functions, the United Nations Organization launched an urgent call on Member States to regulate AI and guarantee the defense of the rights of children and adolescents.

In a statement, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Children’s Protection Fund (UNICEF), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the International Labor Organization (ILO), among other UN organizations, issued various recommendations, including that governments and companies verify that AI systems are “transparent, accountable and designed to protect children.”

The multinational organizations highlighted that various children’s rights groups have denounced that predators “can use AI to analyze a child’s online behavior, their emotional state and their interests, in order to adapt their harassment strategy.”

They add that AI also allows criminals to “generate explicit fake images of real children, fueling a new form of sexual extortion.”

In this regard, the ITU highlights the substantial increase in cases of cyberbullying of minors, and cites figures from the Childlight Global Child Safety Institute, an international organization that collects data on child sexual exploitation and abuse, in which they reveal that cases of child abuse facilitated by technology in the United States increased from 4,700 in 2023 to more than 67,000 in 2024.

For this reason, the United Nations urged Member States to strengthen AI governance frameworks to defend and protect the rights of children, a sector whose opinion must be heard and considered.

Furthermore, he urged global organizations to integrate children’s rights into all policies and strategies related to artificial intelligence, and governments to prevent violence and exploitation of children, enabled or amplified by this new technological tool.

And they emphasize that it is necessary to apply “stronger, child-focused data protection measures to safeguard privacy within AI systems.” Without ignoring the fact that it is the obligation of States to prioritize the best interests and comprehensive development of each child.