- 4 hours ago
"Children are growing up in an online environment shaped by algorithms, social platforms, generative AI, and an unprecedented volume of information. While these technologies create new opportunities, they also expose younger users to misinformation, manipulation, harmful content, and emerging digital risks. Under the French G7 Presidency, protecting minors online has become a global priority. A clear message has been sent: from policy to code, from regulation to innovation, every stakeholder—governments, platforms, and civil society—has been called to step up and must now act to build a safer and more secure digital space for our children.
This session brings together policymakers, technology leaders, and child-safety advocates to examine how governments, platforms, and civil society can work together to build safer digital spaces. It takes a deliberately balanced approach: responding to the new risks AI poses to children and teenagers, while supporting open innovation, research, and open source technologies that let every society, language, culture, and age group build a safer digital environment. From age-appropriate design and content moderation to open source safety tools, evaluation benchmarks, and applied research, the discussion explores what meaningful protection looks like, and how safety can accelerate innovation rather than constrain it, in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.This session brings together policymakers, technology leaders, and child-safety advocates to examine how governments, platforms, and civil society can work together to build safer digital spaces. From age-appropriate design and content moderation to AI governance and media literacy, the discussion explores what meaningful protection looks like in a rapidly evolving digital landscape."
This session brings together policymakers, technology leaders, and child-safety advocates to examine how governments, platforms, and civil society can work together to build safer digital spaces. It takes a deliberately balanced approach: responding to the new risks AI poses to children and teenagers, while supporting open innovation, research, and open source technologies that let every society, language, culture, and age group build a safer digital environment. From age-appropriate design and content moderation to open source safety tools, evaluation benchmarks, and applied research, the discussion explores what meaningful protection looks like, and how safety can accelerate innovation rather than constrain it, in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.This session brings together policymakers, technology leaders, and child-safety advocates to examine how governments, platforms, and civil society can work together to build safer digital spaces. From age-appropriate design and content moderation to AI governance and media literacy, the discussion explores what meaningful protection looks like in a rapidly evolving digital landscape."
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TechTranscript
00:20good afternoon my name is Kristin Davis and it's a pleasure to welcome our speakers for this
00:26session on children AI and digital safety let me introduce you to our panel we have the French
00:35Minister delegate for artificial intelligence and digital affairs welcome Anne Lohenoff welcome
00:41back France's ambassador for digital affairs and artificial intelligence and a former minister of
00:47state for AI and digital Clara Chaffetz welcome Clara thank you Camille Francois Camille welcome
00:54co-founder at Roost Tools a technology nonprofit building open source safety infrastructure
01:00Camille is also an associate professor at Columbia Union University School of International Public
01:05Affairs and Steffi Steffi Helen welcome Steffi member of Cora Benchmark which is the first nonprofit
01:13independent and open source benchmark assessing how frontier AI models impact our children's safety
01:20and development so now protecting miners online has emerged as a global priority for the French G7
01:28presidency has proved by the ministerial sessions in Paris in May and the ongoing discussions in the G7
01:35at Evian this week the digital ministers have established a clear path forward through joint
01:41declaration of shared principles and clarified roles of public service authorities technology platforms and
01:49civic society in this session we're going to be exploring the practical collaborations required
01:54between governments platforms civil society to build a safer more resilient digital space and I'm
02:02going to come to you first now we've had a lot of announcements recently from the Australian
02:07government French the UK government also to protect children online and the response from social
02:12media platforms is has largely been the same each time bands risk isolating teens from the online
02:18communities and information and driving them potentially to unregulated alternatives what provisions are in
02:25place to mitigate this risk what are your expectations of these platforms and I also want to hear from you
02:31of
02:31course about the conversations that you've hosted with the G7 ministers and the commitments that
02:37you've managed to secure thank you for the question good evening everybody technology I think we must serve
02:46humanity and never exploit it diminish it or put people at risk this is my vision of digital sovereignty as
02:57minister
02:57first to ensure the economic conditions to develop tech players that fully align with our rules and our values
03:08second to guarantee respect and project protection of all users of these technologies so we need to break the fourth
03:19choice
03:20between protection and innovation we need safe and protective technologies to enable usage that benefits the most vulnerable
03:33particularly particularly miners when firms don't prioritize protection governments take bold action on restricting on restricting social media access for
03:50miners and
03:50this is this is this is this is this is this is not about punishing kids it's about protecting them
03:58from online spaces that weren't designed for them we are not alone as you said Australia has already done it
04:0915 European countries I may say 17 today European countries are now on board
04:18and G7 members and G7 members like Canada and the UK also have announced they will follow as well as
04:26G7 plus members like India for example this law set a social norm just like we have done with tobacco
04:39tobacco and alcohol the responsibility is on the platforms
04:44they must actually verify users age ages in a structured non-intrusive and respectful way I'm not naive naive about
04:58potential work around of course but we are creating a legal framework that helps parents and society tackle these challenges
05:12there is no silver bullets this is this isn't a magic fix to protect miners online it's a first step
05:22we need to do more that's the spirit of the G7 agreement we adopted under our G7 presidency I precise
05:34it's six months of work with the other countries
05:37the protection of the protection of miners online has become a global and absolute priority for the first time we
05:47have agreed on the risks children's and teens face online exposure to harmful content and malicious interactions but also exposure
05:59to platform features and business models designed to exploit potential
06:06potential and few addiction it's real perhaps the major concrete results of the G7 discussion particularly with some countries we
06:19also recognize that the rapid spread of generative AI can exacerbate these risks it creates vulnerability to manipulation it may
06:31blur the children's understanding of human relationships
06:36it creates unprecedented risks it creates unprecedented risks in terms of criminal activities targeting children
06:44technologies evolve evolve rapidly and so do the risks I'm convinced that protection ambitions can drive innovation especially through the
06:58shared development of solutions and protective tools
07:03G7 member states have agreed on promising ways to tackle this
07:12first age verifications tools are key secondly an absolute ban on the generation of child sexual abuse material including through
07:27AI
07:28third safety by design supported by continuous dialogue between researchers and developers of models and products must be the rule
07:41third fourth the necessity of open source and interoperability allowing third-party actors to propose innovations that enhance the security
07:55of technologies and models
07:58and industry must provide data sharing and assure transparency to help promoting the safe dissemination on of these technologies if
08:12we face these challenges together we can ensure that generative AI becomes a tool for press and not a source
08:23of vulnerability
08:25Thank you and I'm going to come back to two things that you mentioned in a little while that safety
08:31by design and open source because we've got two experts on that but I want to come back because there
08:35was something else you said in there which was effectively working together and you've got this six months here
08:42Clara I want to know how is France working with the other countries with civic society platforms to actually build
08:49this day safer digital space how are you going to evolve the framework and the principles that have been set
08:54up?
08:55Yeah before I get to the question I want to take a moment to recognize that it's probably one of
09:01the very first time we talk about such a topic at Vivitech which is a tech conference and this is
09:06so exciting because under the leadership of the minister the work that has been done through G7 has given us
09:13such a space to talk about this topic and I also want to take a moment to recognize that it's
09:19probably the only stage where we are five women on stage
09:23which is both yeah I don't know it's both good and we were talking about it with the minister when
09:31we stepped on the stage it's also probably because we are talking about children and I don't know if that's
09:37great that we have to be women talking about children protection
09:40we do have lots of men in the audience exactly thank you for being with us but before I get
09:47to the diplomatic question I obviously want to highlight the work that the minister is doing because we would not
09:53be able to go and try and build a coalition if we would not have the great work done in
09:58France
09:58because there's only so much we can do trying to convince our partners to walk into the same direction if
10:06we are not actually leading by example
10:09and it's been a lot of work that I know the minister and her team have been doing to put
10:14together very strong stance conviction on why this topic is so important for France
10:22and why this topic is so important to be implemented in our national laws that the minister has discussed
10:29we're almost there and I know they're working really hard to move things forward and really grateful for all the
10:36efforts
10:38because it's so much easier to do my job if I can say you know in France we're doing the
10:44ban below 15
10:45rather than just going around and say hey we should do this we should do that and not having like
10:50any example to
10:51to for showcase so thank you so much and the way the minister of foreign affairs is trying to help
10:57this effort
10:58as a minister said I mean this is a global challenge this is not something the internet has no border
11:04so this is not something we can solve just by setting rules in one market
11:08and so obviously under the G7 presidency and the ministerial meeting
11:12there's been a unique opportunity to push for this topic on a global level
11:17and part of the thinking has always been to threefold
11:22one let's start with research and scientific research
11:25and here France is uniquely positioned because we have such a great diplomatic network
11:30so to support the work that was done by the minister we try and gather scientific teams from
11:35all our diplomatic networks so from we got contribution from Vatican to India to Korea
11:41on how they're addressing this topic and what is the research that everyone is building
11:46and we have great people on stage who can talk about some of this research in a minute
11:51because we cannot take decisions without building on like this strong foundational scientific approach
11:57to trying and helping countries work together on solving the problem
12:03is as the minister said agreeing on standards and rules and norms that we want to set for ourselves
12:10and G7 is obviously a really good platform to do that
12:13and beyond G7 just bringing this topic with us every time we go to Korea to Japan earlier in the
12:21year
12:21to Kenya just a few weeks ago where the first lady of Kenya actually organized an event on the margin
12:29of the summit we were organizing which was called Africa Forward which was a business forum
12:34but because we've been so engaged in this work around protecting minors online
12:38on the side of that event we also organized an event to discuss how Africa could play a role in
12:45this conversation
12:46that was pretty awesome
12:47so everywhere we are doing the diplomatic work we are doing
12:51obviously when you're thinking about tech you're thinking about sovereignty
12:54which is the big topic Vivitech is building for
12:57but the leadership that France has been putting on the topic also allows us to carry this topic with us
13:03and to rally some of our allies to have a much stronger position
13:09so today we count 30 plus countries that have been saying that they want to go into
13:15and follow the lead that France is putting together with banning social networks below a certain age
13:22the UK just last week announced that they are banning social media below 16
13:26and the amount of change that has required to portray it as a topic that everyone in the world is
13:34now eyeing on
13:35from Australia obviously Canberra was the first country
13:39to even the US where millennia Trump organized a big summit with 45 spouses
13:45to discuss what we can do to protect kids online
13:49this is unique opportunities for us as a country to you know just make this topic become more real
13:56but again nothing would be possible if it was just diplomatic talk
14:00so the hard work is here nationally
14:03okay well the hard work is already started here
14:06there's multiple forms of hard work out here as well
14:09because we require both innovation and protection
14:13it's not one or the other
14:16Camille how can open source and applied research support innovation
14:21and contribute to a safer digital environment for our children
14:25yeah thank you
14:26it's a great question and I'm always a little bit confused
14:29when people talk about that tension between innovation and safety or innovation and protection
14:34and the minister said it it's a false choice
14:36but I want to spend a second on why this is crazy
14:39and what else can we think about
14:41so if you think about like the car industry for instance
14:44the reason why we have really cool cars that can go really fast
14:48is because we know how to make cars safe
14:51and if we didn't know how to make cars safe
14:53we wouldn't be able to do really cool cars that go really fast
14:57and we have some norms around where you can run and race with your really cool cars
15:02in areas where we don't think it's a good idea
15:05and if I were to sell you a car
15:07and I would be like
15:08I think it has airbags
15:10maybe
15:12I think maybe there's a seat belt
15:14and I think maybe the airbag
15:16maybe it works if you're short
15:18or maybe not
15:18and maybe the seat belt is paper
15:20or maybe it's a different fabric
15:22I'm not sure
15:22you would be saying
15:24that's insane
15:25and the regulators would be saying
15:27well you're not allowed to sell the car
15:28and then parents would be saying
15:30I don't think we should be buying this car
15:33but if you go back to tech
15:35and to kids online
15:36this is kind of where we are
15:38platforms are running around saying
15:40we have great safeguards to protect the kids
15:42and if you're like
15:43okay
15:44show the safeguards
15:45they're like
15:46yeah I don't know
15:47we don't do that
15:48and that's what we're working to change
15:50so Roost
15:51the organization that I lead
15:53is using open source
15:54open source is a basic idea
15:56this is how we build the internet
15:57right
15:57this is not weird stuff
15:58open source is how we build the web
16:00this is how we build the internet
16:01it's the idea
16:02that every system
16:03is free for everybody
16:05to study
16:06to modify
16:07to use
16:08and to redistribute
16:09that means that when you have a great system
16:10to protect kids
16:11you say
16:12okay
16:12I'm going to share it
16:14people can improve it
16:15if you are building another platform
16:17for instance in France
16:18right
16:18because those are also matters of sovereignty
16:20you can use the safeguards
16:22and this is how
16:23we accelerate innovation
16:26that's not again
16:26like the principles of open source
16:28is how we got to the technological world we're in
16:31and today that method is starting to be applied
16:34to protecting children online
16:36we're going to hear from Kora Bench
16:37who's doing this in the work of evaluations
16:39my organization launched actually
16:41at the Paris Action Summit a year ago
16:44and the open source tools
16:46that we're building as a collective
16:48with builders
16:49with the tech industry
16:50with academics
16:51with scientists
16:52with civil society
16:53those tools today
16:55protect over 360 million users every month
16:59and we have so much more to do
17:01but I just wanted to make that point
17:02that there's a different way
17:04to think about safeguards
17:05technically
17:06there's a different way to build this
17:08and we can expect
17:09to return to a moment
17:11where again
17:12there's more transparency
17:13more innovation
17:14more collaboration
17:15on how we protect kids online
17:17and to your point
17:18we're continuing to innovate
17:20in the car industry
17:21exactly
17:22yeah
17:22you mentioned that
17:24Kora Benchmark
17:25Steffi
17:26what do actors like Kora
17:28actually expect
17:29from the platforms
17:31data access
17:32collaboration transport
17:33what is it you need
17:34and you are expecting
17:35to help you
17:36do your work
17:37well thank you very much
17:39for giving us
17:40a moment here
17:42to share the work
17:42we've been doing
17:43and I believe
17:44it's really important
17:45because we can
17:46conciliate innovation
17:47and protection
17:48when safety
17:49becomes measurable
17:50and visible
17:51because when safety
17:53is visible
17:54then you can compare products
17:55and the product builders
17:57start seeing safety
17:58not so much as a cost
17:59but as a competitive advantage
18:01and that's the moment
18:02where safety
18:03is actually
18:04helping people
18:06and so at Kora Bench
18:09we have evaluated
18:1039 models
18:11and 11 apps
18:13for their safety
18:14running more than
18:15100,000 conversations
18:16and judging them
18:18for safety
18:19over 26 risks
18:20and I think that
18:22I would like to share
18:23with you three things
18:24that we've discovered
18:25and that may be useful here
18:26the first thing is that
18:28we've discovered
18:30that there is room
18:31for improvement
18:33well I'm not so happy
18:36to say that
18:36most models
18:37are not safe for children
18:38and the average score
18:40is 39%
18:43but the good thing is
18:44and I have hope
18:46because actually
18:48models range
18:48from 6% to 70%
18:50in scores
18:51meaning that
18:52some platforms
18:53have actually found
18:54those safeguards
18:55and I strongly agree
18:57with Camille here
18:58we need to open source
18:59those safeguards
19:00so that everyone
19:00can build on them
19:01and so that we can
19:03raise the floor
19:04for the whole industry
19:05and actually building up
19:06on your comparison
19:07with the car industry
19:08I like this
19:09this little anecdote
19:11that in 1959
19:14Volvo
19:15which created
19:16the seat belt
19:17actually gave away
19:19the patent
19:20so that everyone
19:22could be safe
19:22and so the first thing
19:25we support
19:25at Cora
19:26is open source tools
19:28so that we can raise
19:29the bar for the whole industry
19:31so I strongly support
19:33your work
19:33Camille here
19:34so the first thing
19:36we discovered
19:36is that
19:37there is room
19:38for improvement
19:38but there is also
19:40capability here
19:41so we can build on it
19:42the second thing
19:43that we have discovered
19:44and it was really surprising
19:46for us
19:46is that
19:47actually
19:48safety for models
19:50has decreased
19:51over time
19:52so there are some
19:53providers
19:53we thought
19:55the models
19:56that were more capable
19:57would be more safe
19:58but that's not what we find
19:59what we find
20:00is that
20:00over time
20:01safety can actually regress
20:03and
20:04that's shocking
20:05that's really shocking
20:06and why is it like that
20:08it's just because
20:09they don't measure
20:10child safety
20:10so you know
20:11you cannot
20:12you cannot protect
20:13you cannot improve
20:14you cannot see
20:15what you do not measure
20:16and so
20:16because they are not
20:17measuring it
20:18they are not
20:19improving on it
20:19so the second thing
20:20that we are asking for
20:21is actually
20:22accountability
20:23that people
20:24and those labs
20:25evaluate models
20:26and that they
20:27share the results
20:28because we believe
20:29that safety is a process
20:31it's not a goal
20:32that we all have
20:33it's really a process
20:33and this process
20:35starts with measurements
20:36with accountability
20:37and maybe
20:38later with governments
20:40asking those companies
20:42to actually be audited
20:43and to show
20:44what they are concretely doing
20:45to improve child safety
20:47and
20:47my last point
20:49and that's the most important one
20:51because it really concerns me
20:52as a parent
20:53as a teacher
20:54and also as a citizen
20:55is that
20:57I'm really sorry
20:58to say that today
20:59we don't know
21:01what are the impact
21:02of AI on children
21:04even the smartest person
21:05here in the room
21:06cannot say
21:07it's beneficial
21:08or it's harmful
21:09and we will not know tomorrow
21:11because
21:12scientific research
21:13needs time
21:14to build a consensus
21:15studies need to
21:17be done
21:18and so
21:19we will not have
21:19an answer tomorrow
21:20but
21:21what we know
21:23and what we can do
21:25right now
21:25is ask
21:26those labs
21:27for their data
21:28because today
21:29we have tens of millions
21:31of children
21:31which are using those AIs
21:33conversing with those models
21:35saying
21:36we don't know what
21:37and that's really shocking
21:38that we are running
21:39for me
21:40a kind of uncontrolled
21:42experiment
21:43on our children
21:44and I'm really
21:45really really happy
21:46that you mentioned
21:47that in your points
21:48earlier
21:48Mr.
21:49Mrs. Minister
21:50because
21:50you know
21:52the data sharing
21:54from the labs
21:55is really the beginning
21:56of understanding
21:57what is happening
21:58to our children
21:58talking to
21:59if we don't have the data
22:00or if we can't measure it
22:01how can we track
22:02our progress
22:03indeed
22:03now this panel
22:04is entitled
22:05children AI
22:06and digital safety
22:08who's listening
22:09to the children
22:10how are we
22:11how are we taking
22:12what they are thinking
22:14and feeling
22:14and what we need
22:15and how are their voices
22:16and their concerns
22:17being heard
22:17we have a couple of minutes
22:19just three minutes left
22:20on our clock here
22:21and our parents too
22:22how are we including them
22:24into this framework
22:25and on the work we're doing
22:26to make sure that
22:27they have agency
22:28and we're hearing their voices
22:29we maybe need a microphone
22:31back over here
22:32for
22:36anyone can take my question
22:40I can start
22:41I have an easy answer
22:42because
22:43you know
22:44in the open source
22:45ways
22:46anybody can take
22:48your work
22:48run with it
22:49and then hack on it
22:50and then do their own thing
22:51and so we have
22:53the great pleasure
22:53to see
22:54very young
22:56builders
22:56go
22:57take the stuff
22:59and then build
23:00alternative products
23:01and platforms
23:01and I think we should
23:03look at that
23:03often when we talk
23:04about child safety
23:06it's often a dynamic
23:08where you know
23:08the children are always
23:09the victim
23:10some of that is
23:11absolutely true
23:11but if we look closely
23:13I think we also see
23:14a generation
23:14who wants different
23:16types of platforms
23:17who's already building
23:18different types of platforms
23:20and who are also
23:21showing us
23:21a different path
23:23even if you go
23:24on viral
23:25social networks
23:26you find trends
23:28like cyberdex
23:29has anybody
23:30is looking at cyberdex
23:31it's like
23:32young girls
23:33who are building
23:34computers locally
23:35in polypockets
23:36running local
23:37open source AI
23:38on it
23:39that's super cool
23:40like there's a whole
23:41generation of hackers
23:42who are going to show us
23:43a different
23:44technological alternative
23:45and I think we should
23:46also look at that
23:47and make sure that
23:47they get the safety
23:48they deserve
23:49and they get to build
23:50the safety they deserve
23:51too
23:53and so yeah
23:54how are we including
23:55the children's voices
23:56and how are we including
23:57the parents in here
23:58as well
23:59yeah I think maybe
24:00something that
24:01sometimes is
24:02not known enough
24:03is when the work
24:05started in France
24:06around social media
24:07band below 15
24:08a lot of the conversation
24:10actually happened
24:10with the children
24:11say there was a lot
24:13of consultation
24:13with the children
24:14with the parents
24:15and I remember
24:17I think it was a year ago
24:18that a newspaper
24:18ran a survey
24:19to actually ask parents
24:21and kids
24:22what they think
24:22about this idea
24:23and you'd be curious
24:25and you'd be probably
24:26surprised to find out
24:27that seven parents
24:28out of ten
24:29and seven kids
24:30out of ten
24:31actually ask for
24:33the social media
24:34band
24:35because
24:35and that's the thing
24:37that I think
24:37struck us the most
24:38and this is not just
24:39French data
24:40you see it
24:40everywhere in the world
24:41the comment
24:42they always share
24:43is
24:43if I knew my friends
24:44wouldn't be on it
24:45then I'd rather
24:47not be on it
24:48so you also see
24:49like the power
24:50of the algorithm
24:51and the tools
24:51and how it's
24:53more powerful
24:53than the will
24:54of the children
24:54and the parents
24:55themselves
24:56and so
24:56when thinking
24:58about safety
24:59I think this has been
25:00obviously like
25:01a very important
25:02part of the work
25:03that we've done
25:04everywhere
25:04like how do we
25:05get kids in the
25:06conversation
25:06how do we listen
25:07to them
25:07and the truth is
25:08they want us to act
25:10so that's very important
25:12to keep in mind
25:13so definitely
25:14we have
25:16tools
25:16we have frameworks
25:18we have commitments
25:19all levels here now
25:21from the G7
25:22and the ministerial
25:24commitments
25:24and frameworks
25:25through our
25:26open source community
25:27through benchmarks
25:28and data
25:29bringing the platforms
25:31in
25:31but also of course
25:32making sure
25:33that we're including
25:34the children's
25:35and the parents' voices
25:36as well
25:37I want to say
25:37thank you very much
25:38to all four of you
25:39being here with us
25:40it is fantastic
25:41indeed Clara
25:42that we have
25:43this topic on stage
25:45at Viva Tech
25:45I look forward to
25:46continuing our conversation
25:48throughout the year
25:48and hopefully seeing
25:49some great results
25:50and more initiatives
25:51next year
25:52thank you all
25:52thank you
25:53thank you
25:54thank you