Children's AI Summit and Children's Manifesto for the Future of AI

Introduction

While the last two years have brought unprecedented public interest in AI, with important international and national events in AI regulation and policy, so far children have been largely missing from these discussions. At the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park in November 2023, children were only mentioned in hypothetical discussions of future generations. Similarly, at this year’s AI Safety Summit in Seoul children's perspectives were missing again.

Children are the group most impacted by advances in AI. Yet they are the most underrepresented group in decision-making processes relating to AI's design, development, and deployment, as well as the policy-making and regulatory discussions around it. That needs to change. 

Children's AI Summit

On Tuesday 4 February 2025, the Children’s AI Summit brought together around 150 children from across the UK to share their messages for global leaders, policymakers, and AI developers on what the future of AI should look like.

Putting children’s voices and experiences centre stage, the Summit explored how AI impacts children today, and how children want to shape its future. It was a child-centred event with entertainment and activities for different age groups between panel sessions and performances, including performances from National Youth Theatre, a session by the NSPCC’s Voice of Online Youth, and interactive stands by Children’s Parliament, the LEGO Group, PSHE Association and others. All sessions were chaired by a young person (8-18 years old) and speakers and performers were all children.

The Children’s AI Summit was hosted by the Children and AI team in The Alan Turing Institute’s Public Policy Programme and Queen Mary University of London and supported by the LEGO Group, Elevate Great and EY. Find out more about the Children’s AI Summit here.

Children's Manifesto for the Future of AI

The “Children's Manifesto for the Future of AI” was produced as part of the Summit. This manifesto has been developed from ideas submitted in the run-up via competitions, and children and young people participating in the Summit gave feedback on a first draft and discussed the topics there. The Manifesto was collated by the Children and AI team at The Alan Turing Institute, but draws entirely on the words and ideas of the children and young people themselves. 

Read the full Children's Manifesto for the Future of AI here, and a brief and Word document versions can be found here.

Paris AI Action Summit

The Turing’s Children and AI team attended the Paris AI Action Summit the week after the Children’s AI Summit, alongside a 12-year-old Summit attendee who featured on the panel at a mainstage event facilitated by everyone.AI, and shared views from the Summit and the Children's Manifesto for the Future of AI.

The Children's AI Summit was awarded "Road to the Summit" status by the Paris AI Action Summit.