A new statistical analysis issued by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has shown an accelerated and unprecedented digital appetite by young people for artificial intelligence technologies, stressing that children are adopting this technology at a much faster pace than adults.
Official data collected from 10 countries surveyed showed that at least 20 million children have used various AI tools, more than three times ahead of adults, putting societies and educational systems in front of a new technological reality that requires a conscious study of its developmental and behavioral impacts.
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The results of the UN survey revealed the details and nature of young people's use of this software, with around 13 million children estimated that they regularly resort to artificial intelligence tools to support their educational journey and accomplish their daily schoolwork.
The same statistics indicated that more than two million children, equivalent to one in ten children, reported that they trust these smart gadgets and use them to seek personal advice on special matters and issues of concern to them, demonstrating the extent of the increasing emotional and cognitive dependence these platforms are forming in the lives of the younger generation.
Risks of Lack of Oversight and Protection
Children are the most vulnerable group to AI systems and their underlying business models, as they have much less ability to avoid them or challenge how their personal data is used, UNICEF said in its warning report.
The organization denounced the lack of safety and security standards in the initial designs of many of these systems, describing child protection measures as a marginal matter to be thought about later, especially since most of the current governance frameworks do not prioritize children's rights, at a time when an entire generation is growing up in a global experience with unknown consequences for cognitive development.
A third of the children included in the UN analysis expressed their extreme concern and fear that AI could be exploited for fraud, deceiving others, or using it to spread misinformation and fake news.
A quarter of the children surveyed expressed real concerns that their personal photos and videos would be manipulated and hacked digitally, and turned into unethical and explicit visual content through "deepfake" techniques, reflecting the children's own awareness of the ethical and security risks surrounding their digital presence.
Strategic Calls Ahead of UN Dialogue
UNICEF has urged governments, private sector organizations and international partners to act quickly to integrate children's rights and their inherent right to safety and protection into global AI governance frameworks, ahead of the launch of the first Global Dialogue on AI Governance at the United Nations.
The agency described the current phase as a critical and pivotal moment, stressing that the policy and technological decisions and choices made today will directly determine the level of children's safety, digital privacy, and psychological well-being over the coming decades, as well as ensuring their equal opportunities for safe access to the future.
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