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AI could threaten children: experts

Source: https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2026/07/20/2003861049

HIGH-THREAT FUTURE:AI development and adoption could create an explosion of new threats to young people online from a wide variety of directions

• By Fion Khan / Staff writer, with CNA
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Deepfake-related risks are among the top three concerns ranked by experts when evaluating the impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) application development on youth, human rights and gender, reports released by the Ministry of Digital Affairs (MOFA) in March show.

The ministry was required to conduct the assessments in accordance with a supplementary resolution attached to the AI Basic Act (人工智慧基本法), which was passed by the legislature last December.

The ministry said it worked with the National Science and Technology Council, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Education, the National Communications Commission and other Executive Yuan agencies to complete three reports after consulting 30 experts from relevant fields.

A computer user is pictured in an undated photograph.

Photo : Reuters

Experts assigned relatively high risk scores to 18 AI-related scenarios, indicating that AI poses generally moderate to high risks in the three areas examined, reports said.

For minors, the highest-risk scenario evaluated is deepfake-enabled identity fraud or extortion involving fabricated sexual images, while the impact of deepfake technology on different genders was rated as the most significant risk in terms of gender.

For human rights, the three highest-ranked risks were AI lowering barriers to cyberattacks that compromise privacy and data security, AI-generated illegal or harmful content, and deepfakes used to impersonate people or fabricate images and audio that undermine personal dignity.

The experts handed down recommendations for blunting AI-related threats across the three areas.

First, to address deepfake risks affecting minors, they recommended regulatory oversight and digital literacy education.

AI applications targeting children, such as emotional companion chatbots, deepfake image-generation tools and automated educational assessment systems, should be included in regulatory frameworks, they said.

The importance of parental education, including training in deepfake detection and awareness of AI bias to improve judgment, is essential, they said.

Second, for human rights, safeguards should be incorporated during the technology development and system design stages, allowing biases to be identified and corrected before large-scale deployment, experts said.

Prevention should take precedence over remediation, they said, recommending differential impact analyses, reviews of training data representativeness and risk simulations during model development.

Social welfare, public health and judicial data held by the public sector are highly sensitive and that data security planning should be incorporated into the initial stages of system design if AI systems are introduced to analyze such information or provide related services, they said.

To address the risks of AI lowering the barrier for cyberattack and generating illicit or harmful content, experts called for stronger safeguards and content-filtering mechanisms for generative AI systems.

Third, regarding gender issues, experts recommended that authorities evaluating governance measures for AI applications, including deepfake image-generation tools and AI-assisted gender-based violence risk assessment systems, draw on the scenarios identified in the reports and collaborate across agencies and professional disciplines when conducting systematic evaluations.

MODA said it had already convened a panel of child welfare specialists, AI experts and stakeholders in May to review the 18 risk scenarios identified in the child and youth impact assessment report and determine whether they meet the AI Basic Act’s definition of high risk.

The panel recommended that 12 scenarios be classified as high risk, across areas of AI-related content, privacy and security risks, and learning ability and judgement.

In terms of AI-related content, the scenarios include algorithmic content recommendation systems that influence minors, AI-generated or distributed inappropriate content for children.

Privacy and security risk scenarios include deepfake-enabled identity fraud and sexual-image extortion, AI-powered phishing messages targeting minors, privacy risks from collecting children’s data and data leaks caused by security loopholes.

Regarding learning ability and judgement, the scenarios include manipulative AI systems, excessive reliance on AI chatbots, misleading information affecting judgment, AI-generated content undermining learning ability, biased training data and AI systems unable to explain decisions affecting children.

The three reports are intended as preliminary assessments and policy observations aimed at gathering cross-disciplinary perspectives and practical experience, MODA said.

The priority scenarios identified in the reports are for reference only and do not necessarily constitute legally defined high risk under the AI Basic Act, it said.

An AI risk classification framework has been established to serve as a common basis for government agencies to identify, assess and respond to AI-related risks, providing a foundation for future legislative amendments and systemic reforms, it said.