卡伦·郝文 周晓玲译

Algorithms are increasingly shaping childrens lives， but new guardrails could prevent them from getting hurt. 算法不斷影响孩子们的生活，新的防护措施能保护他们免受伤害。

Algorithms can change the course of childrens lives. Kids are interacting with Alexas1 that can record their voice data and influence their speech and social development. Theyre binging on videos on TikTok and YouTube pushed to them by recommendation systems that end up shaping their worldviews.

Algorithms are also increasingly used to determine what their education is like， whether theyll receive health care， and even whether their parents are deemed fit to care for them. Sometimes this can have devastating effects： this past summer， for example， thousands of students lost their university admissions after algorithms—used in lieu of pandemic-canceled standardized tests—inaccurately predicted their academic performance2.

Children， in other words， are often at the forefront when it comes to using and being used by AI， and that can leave them in a position to get hurt. “Because they are developing intellectually and emotionally and physically， they are very shapeable，” says Steve Vosloo， a policy specialist for digital connectivity at UNICEF， the United Nations Children Fund.

Vosloo led the drafting of a new set of guidelines from UNICEF designed to help governments and companies develop AI policies that consider childrens needs. Released on September 16， the nine new guidelines are the culmination of several consultations held with policymakers， child development researchers， AI practitioners， and kids around the world. They also take into consideration the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child， a human rights treaty ratified in 1989.

The guidelines arent meant to be yet another set of AI principles， many of which already say the same things. In January of this year， a Harvard Berkman Klein Center review of 36 of the most prominent documents guiding national and company AI strategies found eight common themes—among them privacy， safety， fairness， and explainability.

Rather， the UNICEF guidelines are meant to complement these existing themes and tailor them to children. For example， AI systems shouldnt just be explainable—they should be explainable to kids. They should also consider childrens unique developmental needs. “Children have additional rights to adults，” Vosloo says. Theyre also estimated to account for at least one-third of online users. “Were not talking about a minority group here，” he points out.

In addition to mitigating AI harms， the goal of the principles is to encourage the development of AI systems that could improve childrens growth and well-being. If theyre designed well， for example， AI-based learning tools have been shown to improve childrens critical-thinking and problem-solving skills， and they can be useful for kids with learning disabilities. Emotional AI assistants， though relatively nascent， could provide mental-health support and have been demonstrated to improve the social skills of autistic children. Face recognition， used with careful limitations， could help identify children whove been kidnapped or trafficked.

Children should also be educated about AI and encouraged to participate in its development. It isnt just about protecting them， Vosloo says. Its about empowering them and giving them the agency to shape their future.

UNICEF isnt the only one thinking about the issue. The day before those draft guidelines came out， the Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence （BAAI）， an organization backed by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology and the Beijing municipal government， released a set of AI principles for children too.

The announcement follows a year after BAAI released the Beijing AI principles， understood to be the guiding values for Chinas national AI development. The new principles outlined specifically for children are meant to be “a concrete implementation” of the more general ones， says Yi Zeng， the director of the AI Ethics and Sustainable Development Research Center at BAAI who led their drafting. They closely align with UNICEFs guidelines， also touching on privacy， fairness， explainability， and child well-being， though some of the details are more specific to Chinas concerns. A guideline to improve childrens physical health， for example， includes using AI to help tackle environmental pollution.

While the two efforts are not formally related， the timing is also not coincidental. After a flood of AI principles in the last few years， both lead drafters say creating more tailored guidelines for children was a logical next step. “Talking about disadvantaged groups， of course children are the most disadvantaged ones，” Zeng says. “This is why we really need [to give] special care to this group of people.” The teams conferred with one another as they drafted their respective documents. When UNICEF held a consultation workshop in East Asia， Zeng attended as a speaker.

UNICEF now plans to run a series of pilot programs with various partner countries to observe how practical and effective their guidelines are in different contexts. BAAI has formed a working group with representatives from some of the largest companies driving the countrys national AI strategy， including education technology company TAL， consumer electronics company Xiaomi， computer vision company Megvii， and internet giant Baidu. The hope is to get them to start heeding the principles in their products and influence other companies and organizations to do the same.

Both Vosloo and Zeng hope that by articulating the unique concerns AI poses for children， the guidelines will raise awareness of these issues. “We come into this with eyes wide open，” Vosloo says. “We understand this is kind of new territory for many governments and companies. So if over time we see more examples of children being included in the AI or policy development cycle， more care around how their data is collected and analyzed—if we see AI made more explainable to children or to their caregivers—that would be a win for us.”

算法能改變孩子们的人生轨迹。现在，孩子们和亚马逊的智能语音助手Alexa互动，Alexa能记录他们的声音数据，影响他们的言语发展和社会性发展。他们沉溺于在抖音国际版和优兔上观看推荐系统推送给他们的视频，这些视频最终会影响他们的世界观。

算法也越来越多地用于决定儿童所受的教育，以及他们能否获得医疗服务，甚至判定父母是否适合抚养他们。有时这会导致极坏的结果：比如，2020年夏季，成千上万名学生因为算法——用于代替因疫情而取消的标准化测试——对其学习成绩作出不准确的预测而失去大学入学资格。

换言之，儿童常处于使用人工智能（AI）与被人工智能利用的前列，他们可能因而受到伤害。联合国儿童基金会（UNICEF）数字连接政策专家史蒂夫·沃斯卢认为：“由于儿童正处于智力、情感和身体的成长发育期，他们的可塑性很强。”

沃斯卢在UNICEF牵头起草了一套新的指导原则，旨在帮助政府和企业制定考虑到儿童需求的AI政策。这9条新原则于2020年9月16日发布，是多次征询决策者、儿童发展研究者、AI从业者和世界各地儿童代表意见的成果。这9条也参照了1989年联合国通过的人权公约《儿童权利公约》。

很多AI原则内容雷同，这套指导原则并不是要重复一遍。今年1月，哈佛大学伯克曼·克莱因互联网与社会中心发表了一篇报告，他们调查了36份指导国家和企业AI策略的最重要文件，发现了8个共同主题，包括隐私、安全、公正和可解释性。……