5Rights and partners organise first Children’s Global AI Summit on Africa
5Rights and partners convened the first-ever Children’s Global AI Summit on Africa in Kigali, Rwanda bringing together 50 children from across the continent to discuss the impact of artificial intelligence on their lives.
Held alongside the Global AI Summit on Africa, young participants from Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, and South Sudan shared their perspectives on the potential and risks of AI. While they saw AI as a tool for learning and creativity, they also voiced concerns about its impact on their critical thinking and social skills, privacy, and commercial exploitation and misinformation.
“Safety isn’t just about restriction; it’s also about responsibility and inclusion. Policymakers should prioritise creating legislation that puts children’s rights, safety, and wellbeing first.”
Enoch, 5Rights Youth Ambassador from Nigeria
The Summit underscored the urgent need for AI to be designed with children’s rights in mind. General comment No. 25 and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child are that clear children’s rights including safety and privacy, must be respected and protected across the digital world.
5Rights’ newly launched Children & AI Design Code sets a roadmap for AI systems that respect children’s rights, challenging tech companies to consider what they would do differently if they knew the end-user was a child.
With AI shaping the digital world, swift action is needed to curb risks, tackle inequalities, and ensure African children get the safe and rights respecting digital world they deserve.