Children demand a seat at the table as AI shapes their lives

The useful part

Children demand a voice on AI's future © FAO/Africa The Digital Villages Initiative (DVI) illustrates how digital technologies can be of use for agricultural development in Africa. Tuesday, September 22, 2026 UN News The first generation to grow up with AI may also be the last one anyone thinks to ask about it – and that has to change, the UN's top human rights official said on Tuesday. Children, he insisted, must be treated as full rights-holders in how AI is built and used – not an afterthought once the technology has already shaped their lives.

How it works

• Türk's office, working with partners, surveyed more than 1,000 children across 49 countries.
• According to UN Children's Fund research, at least 1.2 million children in 11 countries saw their likenesses transformed into sexual images during the past year.
• Their answers paint a sharp picture of unease: fake images made of real people, personal data harvested and exploited, creativity quietly eroded, and a fear that AI could edge out real relationships with...
• The meeting was co-chaired by French President Emmanuel Macron, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Kenyan President William Ruto and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
• Children want to be heard before the decisions get made and not handed the results afterwards.

What to take from it

That puts real obligations on the companies building these systems, he said – human rights risk assessments before products ever reach the market, genuine transparency and independent oversight, not self-policing. Governments, too, have to do more than encourage good behaviour. Türk, the answer already exists on paper: the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the most widely ratified human rights treaty in the world, applies just as much to AI as to anything else.

Example or evidence

• It brings together governments, UN agencies, tech companies, civil society groups and outside experts.
• Its goal: get children themselves into the room when AI systems that shape their lives are designed, deployed and monitored.
• She said there was no disguising the damage that AI is already doing to a whole generation of children, Ms.

Details worth keeping

Children demand a voice on AI's future — Global Issues 'Ask us first': "Today's children are the first generation to grow up with artificial intelligence – yet often the last to be asked for their views," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk told a high-level meeting in New York on protecting children in the age of AI, held on the sidelines of the General Debate.

Related coverage

• Theguardian: Is the scrutiny tech firms are facing making you rethink your children's relationship with technology?
• Globalissues: The world's first scientific body on Artificial Intelligence called on Monday for AI safeguards to be adapted as current firewalls are "unravelling".