UNICEF’s guidance on AI and children 3.0 releases at sidelines of AI summit

New Delhi: Asking governments to mandate child rights impact assessments of systems in Artificial Intelligence (AI) strategies, policies, laws and regulations, as well as the need to protect children’s data and privacy, the UNICEF’s Guidance on AI and Children 3.0, released at the sidelines of the AI summit on Monday, calls for sensitive handling of children’s issues in drafting AI policies.

The guidelines were released during the session ‘AI & Children: Turning Principles into Practice for Safe, Inclusive and Empowering AI’, organised by FICCI and UNICEF during the ‘AI Impact Summit 2026.

As part of the guidelines, updated in their third iteration, UNICEF has recommended ten steps that governments and other authorities, as well as business stakeholders that design, develop, deploy or use AI systems must meet.

This includes ensuring regulatory frameworks, oversight and compliance for child-centred AI, ensuring safety for children, protecting children’s data and privacy, ensuring non-discrimination and fairness for children, and providing transparency, explainability and accountability for children.

The recommendations also ask for respect for human and child rights through responsible AI practice, supporting children’s best interests, development and well-being, ensuring inclusion of and for children, preparing and skilling children for present and future developments in AI, and creating an enabling environment for child-centred AI.

The report said that AI is now at the forefront of almost every major app or platform that children use. “Recent data reveals rapid adoption: 67 per cent of UK teens now use AI (a figure that has almost doubled in two years), 39 per cent of American elementary students learn through AI applications and 37 per cent of children aged 9–11 in Argentina turn to ChatGPT for information … however, is not even: UNICEF research (forthcoming) with 12,000 children aged 12–17 and their parents/caregivers found substantial AI usage but wide divides between countries,” the reports said.

Thomas Davin, Global Director at UNICEF’s Office of Innovation that AI is reshaping the world, often faster than our ability to fully understand its long-term effects.

“We believe this technology can deliver transformational gains for children, but only if we treat this moment as a genuine societal shift and govern it accordingly. Child-centred AI is not optional – it is a responsibility shared by governments, industry and all those shaping these systems,” he said.

Prof. Ajay Kumar Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, while releasing the guidelines, said there is a need for a safe, inclusive, and empowering AI framework for children.

“Digital penetration in India is increasing and children are increasingly exposed to AI driven platforms. We still don’t know the long-term effects of growing-up with AI companions, including personalised learning apps, algorithm-based feeds,” he said.