How to Protect Kids from AI: The Code Every Parent and Technologist Needs to Read

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Dear AI, Don’t Break Our Children.

Our world is changing and our children are navigating its exponential changes as best as they can. And most times, they’re doing it alone, without the guiding light of an adult who understands the digital and AI evolution. But, can we adults be blamed? Even we’re trying our best to keep up with the avalanche of changes that are happening every day to all the ways we know how to live, love and learn. 

Here’s the thing though. Our world is adopting rapidly to Artificial Intelligence, where the future is being coded by a few adults, and everyone including children are going to be affected by it. The problem is that our kids have been left out of this narrative of how the world should change, as if they’re not part of the “group chat” to begin with. 

But not anymore. The Children & AI Design Code – a powerful, practical manifesto brought to us by the 5Rights Foundation, is trying to change that. Its bringing a code of ethics / user manual for grown-up technologists who want to keep the humane in the AI world we’re building. 

The Big Idea

AI is already shaping your child’s world: the content they see, the ads they don’t understand are ads, the chatbots they treat like friends, and the decisions adults make about them using predictive data. And guess what? Most of it has been developed without the slightest nod to a child’s right to privacy, safety, or simply being a child.

The 5Rights Foundation isn’t having it. They created a Children & AI Design Code – a first-of-its-kind blueprint for how to design AI that respects, protects, and even champions kids.

A Call to Our Consciousness

This isn’t about slapping a “kid-friendly sticker on something and calling it a day. This is about deep, systemic accountability at every stage of AI development:

1. Preparation: Do you have a team that knows child psychology, ethics, data law, and how to spell “consent? Great. Get them in the room.
2. Intentions: Are you making an AI to help, or to hook? Say it out loud. And if it’s the latter, sit down.
3. Data: Was it ethically sourced? Age-appropriate? Free of bias? No? Then no.
4. Development: Does the system understand kids change – from gummy-grin toddlers to sarcastic teenagers?
5. Deployment: Will it work under stress? Will it default to safety when it glitches?
6. Redress: Can a child or their caregiver report harm and actually get help?
7. Retirement: Know when to say, “This no longer serves.

But Why Do We Need This?

1. Because children aren’t mini adults. They’re the future adults. And AI that’s built for profit over principle doesn’t pause for that.
2. Because a recommender algorithm that keeps your kid watching might also lead them down a rabbit hole of misogyny or misinformation.
3. Because a chatbot that seems like a friend might actually teach them how to diet dangerously, or say things that no real adult should.
4. Because a surveillance system in a school might decide who gets flagged – not based on behavior, but on flawed data and embedded bias.
5. Because we can do better. And we must.

What This Really Means

This Code is about choosing humanity over hype. It’s about saying that even in the relentless march of innovation, we refuse to sacrifice childhood at the altar of speed, convenience, or profit. Its like promising ourselves: Yes, we can build the future – but not on the backs of our children. 

So if you’re a technologist, a policymaker, or a parent just trying to figure out what the heck your kid is talking to on that screen – they made this Code for you. To hold the line and to ask the hard questions. To make sure our kids inherit not just technology, but a tech ecosystem that sees them, hears them, and protects them. 

Because if AI moves fast and breaks things, we draw the line at letting it break our kids. 

Read the full Children & AI Design Code HERE. 

And if you’re building the future? Make it a place where childhood is sacred and safety is the default setting. After all, we’re building a future for all of us. 

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