The Safe AI for Children Alliance has today published Children’s futures and the governance of frontier AI, a public statement supporting A Call for Control of Frontier AI Models and calling for children’s rights, safety, and long-term interests to be central to its implementation.

The international Call proposes stronger safety measures by AI companies, coordinated government oversight, and international cooperation to ensure that the most advanced AI systems remain under human direction and control. SAIFCA’s statement brings a children’s rights perspective to these proposals, asking that decisions about technologies capable of profoundly affecting their lives and futures explicitly account for their interests.

Support across research, education, and public life

The statement’s founding signatories are:

• Tara Steele, Founder and Executive Director of the Safe AI for Children Alliance
• Elena Sinel, Founder and CEO of Teens in AI
• The Rt. Hon. the Lord Knight of Weymouth, former Schools Minister
• The Lord Clement-Jones CBE, LibDem Lords Spokesperson for AI and Digital, and President of Ambitious About Autism

They are joined by signatories with distinguished experience across AI research and governance, child development, online safety, education, psychotherapy, and family support. Their support brings together academic and policy expertise, direct experience of working with children and families, and personal experience of the devastating consequences of online harm.

The full list of signatories is published alongside the statement.

Why children’s interests must be represented

Children will live with the consequences of decisions being made about AI today, while having limited influence over those decisions themselves. Their dependence on adults, public services, and the wider systems that sustain their lives gives organisations working on their behalf a responsibility to engage with the potential consequences of advanced AI.

Children’s organisations have long recognised that protecting children requires engagement with global issues that can affect their health, security, and future opportunities. That responsibility extends to considering the implications of advanced AI for children, with careful attention to informed expert assessments and the uncertainties surrounding these technologies. For SAIFCA, this includes the potential for AI-enabled cyber-attacks to disrupt essential services, wider societal harms, and irreversible catastrophic harm.

Uncertainty remains about the trajectory of AI development, including the likelihood and timing of some of its most serious risks. The potentially catastrophic consequences make careful risk assessment and preventive action necessary before those uncertainties can be fully resolved. Children’s safety and long-term interests must help shape the decisions made.

What the statement calls for

The statement supports transparent safety protocols, mandatory testing before deployment, independent evaluation, and coordinated government oversight, alongside international cooperation.

It calls for expertise in children’s rights and development to inform the standards and evaluations through which these commitments are put into practice, and for meaningful, age-appropriate opportunities for children to contribute. Their interests must be represented as decisions are made about how advanced AI is developed, assessed, and governed.

Part of SAIFCA’s continuing work

This statement sits alongside SAIFCA’s extensive work on present-day AI harms and risks to children, including AI-generated child sexual abuse imagery, emotional dependency, and the risk of widening inequalities, as well as practical guidance for families and schools. That work continues in earnest, together with our commitment to helping protect children’s future.

Our news and highlights include examples of our campaigning, policy engagement, and contributions to international discussions on children’s AI safety.

SAIFCA’s principles of kindness and respect also guide our engagement on these issues. People should be able to express concerns and offer informed assessments of risk, with differing views considered thoughtfully and on their merits.

What happens next

Following publication, SAIFCA’s first steps will be to share the statement and its signatories with the UK Government and the organisers of the international Call, asking that children’s rights, safety, and long-term interests be incorporated into the work that follows.

We will also continue to invite support from children’s organisations, educators, researchers, advocates, and others who share the statement’s aims. We are grateful to everyone who has added their name and helped bring children’s interests into this discussion.

Read the statement to see the full list of signatories and find out how to add your support.