Google and OpenAI back new online safety tools to combat child sexual abuse
10 February 2025, 15:04
The initiative will help firms that are unable to afford or build safety mechanisms access technology to detect, review and report child sexual abuse.
Google, OpenAI and children’s gaming platform Roblox are among the firms backing a new initiative to provide free online safety tools to firms around the globe.
The initiative, known as Robust Open Online Safety Tools (Roost), will help firms otherwise unable to afford or build their own safety mechanisms gain access to technology to help detect, review and report child sexual abuse material, and use AI to help power other safety features.
The scheme has also been backed by former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt, online messaging platform Discord and several academic and research organisations, and was announced during the first day of the AI Action Summit in Paris.
The summit is hosting world leaders, tech firms and academics for a range of talks on the future of AI and how the technology can be used in a range of fields including sustainability and safety, as well as how it could impact society.
Mr Schmidt said the scheme “addresses a critical need to accelerate innovation in online child safety and AI by providing small companies and non-profits access to technologies they currently lack”.
He said the “collaborative, open-source approach” would help “foster innovation”, and help create a “safer internet for everyone”.
The summit is being attended by tech figures including Google boss Sundar Pichai and OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, as well as a number of world leaders and senior figures including US Vice President JD Vance and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with many nations looking to use the summit to showcase their own potential leadership of the AI space.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has chosen not to attend the two-day summit, but Technology Secretary Peter Kyle is in Paris to represent the UK and said he would be using the trip to encourage more investment in the UK’s AI infrastructure and “cement our position as an AI pioneer”.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who is hosting the summit, announced ahead of its opening on Monday that companies were planning to invest around £91 billion in AI projects in France in the coming years.
