About The Safe AI for Children Alliance

Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping the environments in which children grow up — from education and entertainment to communication and identity formation.

While AI offers significant opportunities, it also introduces new and poorly understood risks. These range from unsafe online interactions and AI-generated exploitation to psychological manipulation, dependency, and broader societal disruption as AI systems become more capable.

Children deserve to grow up in environments designed with their safety and development in mind.

The Safe AI for Children Alliance (SAIFCA) exists to ensure their well-being remains central as artificial intelligence advances.

Our Mission

Our mission is to protect children from the risks posed by artificial intelligence - both today and as increasingly powerful AI systems shape the world they will inherit.

A Broader View of Protection

Public discussions about AI often separate critical immediate harms — such as online abuse, exploitation and misinformation — from longer-term risks associated with increasingly capable AI systems.

For children, these issues are connected. The systems being introduced into schools, homes and online spaces today are part of a wider technological trajectory that will influence the society they grow into.

Effective protection therefore requires both practical safeguarding and forward-looking governance. It involves addressing present risks while recognising how rapidly AI capabilities are evolving.

SAIFCA brings these perspectives together in a coherent framework focused specifically on children.

Our Approach

SAIFCA is grounded in three core principles.

🟩 Protection Without Panic

Artificial intelligence holds extraordinary potential. Responsible use, however, depends on proportionate safeguards, clear accountability and informed decision-making.

Our work is measured and evidence-informed — calm in tone and serious in substance.

🟩 Governance and Institutional Responsibility

AI safety is also a governance issue.

Safeguarding children in the age of increasingly powerful AI systems requires:

• Clear standards
• Institutional accountability
• Policy engagement
• Sustained public awareness

We focus on strengthening the systems that protect children and supporting long-term resilience, alongside responding constructively to emerging risks.

🟩 Connecting Fields That Rarely Overlap

Expert communities often operate separately.

AI researchers may not specialise in child development.
Educators may not follow frontier AI capability trends.
Policymakers may not see how rapidly technology is reshaping childhood.

SAIFCA works across these domains — linking AI safety research, education, governance and child protection into a unified, child-centred perspective.

What Makes SAIFCA Distinct

SAIFCA is:

• Focused specifically on children
• Explicit about both near-term harms and the risks that will shape the world today’s children grow into
• Independent of technology company funding
• Grounded in governance rather than advocacy alone
• Structured as an alliance — coordinating expertise and responsibility across sectors

Protecting children in the age of AI requires coordination across sectors, including educators, policymakers, researchers, safeguarding professionals, parents and many others whose decisions shape the environments in which children develop.

Our Structure

SAIFCA operates as a collaborative alliance supported by:

• An International Advisory Board bringing expertise from AI safety, governance, education and child protection
• Volunteers contributing research, analysis and outreach
• Official supporters who share and advance the mission
• A growing community of aligned professionals working across sectors

Together, this structure enables informed, cross-sector engagement on AI risks affecting children.

Leadership

SAIFCA was founded by Tara Steele, a former intelligence officer, First-Class law graduate and former Vice-Chair of a primary school governing board.

With experience in national-level risk assessment and nearly a decade studying long-term AI risk, she brings a systems-based understanding of emerging technological challenges alongside practical insight into institutional safeguarding.

As both a governance leader and a parent, her work is guided by a commitment to foresight, responsibility and the protection of children’s developmental well-being.

➤ Find out more about Tara

Governance and Advisory Oversight

SAIFCA’s work is supported and strengthened by an International Advisory Board, which provides strategic guidance, challenge and expertise across AI governance, child protection, education, law and public policy.

The Board plays a key role in shaping SAIFCA’s priorities, ensuring its work remains relevant and responsive to emerging risks.

To learn more about the members of SAIFCA’s International Advisory Board, you can visit the Advisory Board page:

Volunteers and Contributors

SAIFCA is supported by a dedicated group of volunteers and contributors. Their time, insight and commitment play an important role in strengthening SAIFCA’s work.

To learn more about the volunteers who support SAIFCA, please visit our Volunteers page:

Support

We're proud to welcome a growing number of supporters known for their advocacy, philanthropic efforts, charitable work, or expertise.

We were delighted to receive our first high-profile public endorsement in September 2025 - from Sir Stephen Fry .

Community

SAIFCA’s work is strengthened by a growing international community of people who share a commitment to protecting children in the age of AI. This community includes parents, educators, researchers, policymakers and practitioners who contribute ideas, amplify evidence-based concerns, and help drive more responsible approaches to how AI shapes children’s lives.

Our SAIFCA community helps to drive our mission forward.

Read more about our strategy and mission here:

Looking Ahead

Artificial intelligence will continue to evolve. Its integration into daily life will deepen, and its capabilities will expand.

Children will grow up within this changing environment. Ensuring their safety, resilience and opportunity requires deliberate and sustained effort.

SAIFCA exists to keep children at the centre of that effort.

Join Us

Whether you work in policy, education, research, or child protection – or are a parent seeking to better understand the risks and responsibilities surrounding AI – we welcome you to be part of the SAIFCA community.

By subscribing, you’ll receive updates on SAIFCA’s policy work, campaigns, publications and expert insights, as well as opportunities to contribute to and support efforts aimed at strengthening protections for children.

The Safe AI for Children Alliance is a registered Community Interest Company (CIC), operating as a non-profit organisation dedicated to public benefit.

Thank you for being part of the Safe AI for Children Alliance.

🌱 Want to know more? Check out our Mission & Strategy

The Safe AI For Children Alliance (SAIFCA) is a registered Community Interest Company (non-profit), company number 16284722