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

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 AI 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

The risks from AI to children range from urgent immediate harms - such as dangerous advice from “AI Companions” and exploitation via AI “nudifying” apps - to longer-term risks affecting society and their future.

In many ways, these issues are connected - the systems being introduced into homes, schools and online spaces today, are part of a wider technological trajectory that will influence the society they grow up in.

Effective protection therefore has to consider both practical safeguarding and forward-looking governance. It involves addressing present risks, while also recognising how rapidly AI is being integrated into our communities, and the risks that may present to children’s futures.

SAIFCA brings these perspectives together with a holistic view of what protecting children from the risks of AI really means.

Our Approach

Our holistic approach means that we:

• Prioritise urgent harms to children
• Address longer-term societal risks to children’s futures
• Encourage ways of working that unite separate strands of AI safety work.

Our work remains grounded in three core principles:

🟩 Protection Without Panic

We are not an “anti-AI” organisation; for example, we particularly support the development of specific narrow-purpose AI systems to develop new cures for diseases.

However, responsible AI development and use depends on proportionate safeguards, clear accountability, and informed decision making. 

Our work is driven by individuals who are passionate about children’s safety, but who are primarily 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.

We support parents and educators in safeguarding children, because the current reality of largely unregulated AI development means that education and support is a necessity to protect children.

However, this is a response to our current reality, not an acceptance of the idea that responsibility should sit with parents, educators and carers.

We advocate for meaningful regulation of AI development and deployment to protect children - in the same way that regulation is applied in other high-risk areas such as aviation and pharmaceuticals - and consequent accountability from technology companies.

🟩 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.

As part of this focus, we are an official affiliate of the International Association for Safe and Ethical AI.

In 2026 we will also be increasingly focused on community-building as more and more of us unite around the urgency of protecting children from the risks of AI.

What Makes SAIFCA Distinct

SAIFCA is distinct from most AI-safety organisations and most child-safety organisations because we are:

• 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, advocacy and responsibility across sectors and across communities

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
• A dedicated community of supporters who share our goal of protecting children and creating a brighter future for them

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

Leadership

SAIFCA’s Founder and Director is Tara Steele, a former intelligence officer and law graduate, who is also a mother of two and has served as Vice-Chair of a 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.

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 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:

Support Us

At SAIFCA, independence is central to our mission.

We exist to protect children from the risks posed by AI. That means our positions must be shaped by evidence, ethics and the best interests of children - not by the interests of funders, technology companies, or organisations that could limit what we are able to say.

For that reason, we have chosen not to accept funding where we felt it could compromise our independence, create a conflict with our mission, or affect public trust in our work.

This means that we rely on the support of our community to keep this work going.

If you are able to help, please consider making a donation. Every contribution goes directly towards sustaining SAIFCA’s independent work to protect children in the age of AI.

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