Joint letter: the EU’s Code of Practice for General Purpose AI cannot abandon children

In a joint letter sent this week to Executive Vice-President Virkkunen, 5Rights Foundation and over 15 organisations and experts — including Avaaz Foundation, the Ada Lovelace Institute, and ARTICLE 19 — have urged the Commission not to sideline fundamental rights and children’s protections in the third draft of the EU’s Code of Practice for General Purpose AI.

The Code of Practice for General Purpose AI aims to provide a set of instructions to enable AI developers to comply with their obligations under the AI Act. By limiting children’s rights recognition and protection under the Code, it effectively undermines one of the key objectives of the AI Act – to ensure a high level of protection for fundamental rights.

This wont be without consequences as children are already facing a multitude of very real risks from such systems. Not recognising risks means not mitigating them.

The Code of Practice is crucial to set the bar for rights respecting innovation – innovation that is beneficial for society as whole. And that must include children. 5Rights calls on the EU to ensure that the Code delivers on the promises made in the AI Act. Tech accountability is not an option, but a legal obligation.