Does AI advance or undermine children's rights? From evidence to policy
Artificial intelligence is reshaping children's lives around the world, whether or not they use it.
From the devices children access to the services that schools, healthcare facilities and courts are increasingly embedding into their everyday operations, AI now shapes the opportunities and risks children meet every day.
Is AI advancing or undermining children’s rights? What does the evidence actually say about AI and how are children's rights policies being shaped? Based on the ‘Joint Statement on AI and the Rights of the Child’ and the DFC’s recent review of the available evidence surrounding AI, authors Smera Jayadeva and Sonia Livingstone (DFC) will be joined in conversation by Sophie Kiladze (Chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child) and Leanda Barrington-Leach (Executive Director at 5Rights) to discuss the current AI landscape, the challenges children face, and the potential strategies for children's rights advocates going forward.
Meet our speakers
Sophie Kiladze is a Chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. Prior to joining the UN CRC in 2021, she was elected Member of Parliament of Georgia, a Chair of Human Rights Committee as well as the Chair of the Child Rights Council. She has introduced a transformative vision to the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), particularly by strengthening the role of parliaments in the protection of children's rights. She initiated the work of the CRC on artificial intelligence and the rights of the child as well as the Joint Statement on AI and the Rights of the Child, as a first joint soft-law instrument co-led by the ITU, CRC and UNICEF, co-signed by 13 UN-entities and co-branded by over 60 organizations across the world.
Leanda Barrington-Leach is the Executive Director at 5Rights Foundation, a global NGO dedicated to the protection of minors in the digital environment. Leanda joined 5Rights from the European External Action Service where she was Adviser to the Secretary General focusing on Strategic Communications and the fight against Disinformation. She previously worked in EU advocacy as a consultant and for non-profits, always with a focus on human rights. Leanda also led 5Rights’ participation in the European Commission's Special Panel on Child Safety Online.
Sonia Livingstone is a full professor in the Department of Media and Communications at LSE. She has published 23 books and advised the UK government, European Commission, European Parliament, UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Council of Europe and UNICEF on media audiences, children and young people’s risks and opportunities, media literacy and rights in the digital environment. She directs the Digital Futures for Children centre and is a member of the UN’s Independent International Scientific Panel on AI.
Smera Jayadeva is an independent researcher with an interest in the intersection and impacts of data and technology on power, culture, and policy. Previously, at the Alan Turing Institute, Smera has shaped national and global policy frameworks, including the operationalisation of the UK’s National AI Strategy and the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention on AI, the world’s first legally binding AI treaty. Smera has worked with governments in Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas, supporting research through organisations such as the UNESCO and GPAI. She is the author of the recent report, 'Artificial Intelligence and children's rights: a narrative review of the evidence'.
LSE holds a wide range of events, covering many of the most controversial issues of the day, and speakers at our events may express views that cause offence. The views expressed by speakers at LSE events do not reflect the position or views of the London School of Economics and Political Science.