JamzNG Latest News, Gist, Entertainment in Nigeria
Based on new data from 10 countries, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that at least 20 million children are already using AI, and young people are adopting the technology three times faster than adults.
Perhaps most surprising, an estimated two million children – around one in 10 – say they use AI to ask for advice on things that worry them, while 13 million reportedly use it to help with schoolwork and homework.
“AI is here. It is a growing part of all our lives” UNICEF said in a statement released on Tuesday. “It has shaped childhoods all over the world – for both good and bad.”
Living experiment
Although AI offers new opportunities for learning and creativity, UNICEF warns that evidence of its impact on children’s development, emotional well-being and exposure to harm is still only beginning to emerge.
“In fact, a generation is growing up in a global experimentthe agency said.
Children themselves are increasingly aware of the risks. A third of those surveyed expressed concern that AI could be used to deceive people or spread misinformation, while a quarter worried their images or videos could be manipulated into sexually explicit deepfakes.
UNICEF warns that children are often the first to feel the impact of poorly regulated AI systems, even though they have little control over how the technology is designed or how their personal data is collected and used.
Protect and organize
In front of the first Global Dialogue on AI GovernanceUNICEF urges governments and technology companies to put children’s rights as a top priority in AI regulation.
The agency called stronger protection against AI-enabled sexual exploitationgreater investment in research into the impact of AI on child development, safer and more transparent AI systems, increased digital literacy for children and parents, and expanded digital access to prevent the AI gap from widening.
“The choices made about AI today” says UNICEF, “will shape children’s safety, privacy, well-being and equal access to opportunity for decades to come.”
