The United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI), through its Centre for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotics, and the Ministry of Interior of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) met with over 40 representatives of technology companies developing Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to combat online child sexual exploitation and abuse. The purpose of the meeting was to brief the industry representatives about the AI for Safer Children initiative, hear their sectors views on how to to develop and promote AI tools responsibly, as well as to set in motion a process to evaluate the inclusion of their tools into the AI for Safer Children Global Hub.
The AI for Safer Children initiative seeks to build the capacity of law enforcement and related authorities worldwide in exploring the positive potential of AI to combat online child sexual exploitation and abuse. Moreover, the initiative aims to enhance cooperation, awareness-raising and advocacy on the issue of online child sexual exploitation and abuse.
To this ends, UNICRI and the Ministry of Interior of the UAE are developing the AI for Safer Children Global Hub – a unique centralized platform, containing information on currently available AI tools to prevent and combat this crime – through a strategy ensuring the ethical and legal soundness of the initiative The platform will also offer guidance on how to navigate the challenges faced throughout the development, procurement and deployment of such AI technologies to ensure that they produce the expected impact.
The meeting with technology providers served as an opportunity to collectively discuss the AI for Safer Children Global Initiative and gather the views of the industry representatives on the design and development of the AI for Safer Children Global Hub, as well as to hear about their approach on concrete measures envisioned to promote the responsible use of AI and the takeaways for the initiative’s recent Ethics Experts Meeting.