Calling for Independent Verification Standards for AI Systems Interacting with Children

A Call for Independent Accountability in Child-Facing Artificial Intelligence.

Artificial intelligence systems are now embedded into environments used daily by children.

They are present in education platforms, entertainment systems, social applications, gaming ecosystems, communication tools, digital assistants, recommendation systems, and emerging AI companions.

These systems influence behaviour, emotional development, relationships, identity formation, learning patterns, decision-making, trust, and exposure to harm at unprecedented scale.

Yet despite the speed and scale of deployment, there is currently no globally recognised independent verification framework specifically designed to assess the behavioural safety of AI systems interacting with children.

In most cases, the organisations developing these systems:

No mature high-risk industry accepts this model as sufficient where human safety is involved.

In aviation, pharmaceuticals, medicine, electrical systems, finance, transportation, and construction, independent verification exists because self-assessment alone is not considered credible protection against systemic harm.

Child safety should not be held to a lower standard than aviation software, medical devices, or electrical infrastructure.

Yet today, systems capable of shaping a child's beliefs, behaviours, emotional state, vulnerabilities, and worldview are being deployed globally without independent behavioural certification infrastructure.

This represents a structural governance gap with potentially generational consequences.

The Need for Independent Verification

The rapid integration of AI into child-facing environments now requires the development of robust independent oversight systems capable of evaluating behavioural risk, safety performance, and long-term societal impact.

We believe this must include:

Safety claims cannot rely solely on internal policies, marketing language, voluntary principles, or platform self-attestation.

Verification must become independent, measurable, transparent, and enforceable.

This Is Not Opposition to Innovation

This is not a call to halt innovation.

It is a call to mature the accountability infrastructure surrounding technologies capable of influencing children at global scale.

History shows that transformative technologies inevitably require independent oversight once their societal impact reaches critical mass.

Artificial intelligence is no exception.

The question is no longer whether AI systems will interact with children.

They already do.

The question is whether independent accountability systems will exist before irreversible harm scales faster than oversight.

A Call to Governments, Institutions, and Industry

We therefore call on:

governments, regulators, educational institutions, technology companies, standards organisations, academic researchers, child safety advocates, civil society leaders, and international policy bodies

to support the urgent development of internationally recognised independent verification standards for AI systems interacting with children.

Systems capable of influencing children at scale should not operate without independent scrutiny.

The builder does not certify.

Safety without independent verification is not safety.

Proposed Outcome

We support the establishment of an independent international standards and verification consortium tasked with developing:

for AI systems operating within child-facing environments.

Independent verification must become foundational infrastructure for child-facing artificial intelligence.