HM The King's welcome speech at AI Roundtable
The Royal Palace
(The spoken version shall take precedence)
Your Majesty,
Your Royal Highnesses,
Your Excellency,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Welcome to Stockholm and the Royal Palace!
On this day, thirty years ago, world leaders adopted the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
By doing so they made a historic commitment to the children of the world.
Just last week, a conference on a related topic was held at the Vatican, in the presence of His Holiness Pope Franciscus.
The theme of the conference was how to promote child safety in a digital age, and Her Majesty was one of the speakers.
This year also marks another milestone: 30 years ago, in 1989, the World Wide Web was born. It was the start of a digital transformation, a great shift that has made our world better in many ways.
As we all know, it has also brought new challenges. Not least when it comes to protecting the rights and the wellbeing of children - online and offline.
Today, we commemorate these two anniversaries by shining a light on a most urgent issue: How can we use artificial intelligence as a catalyst for child safety online?
New technology in itself is not good or bad. However, as we all know, it can be used for good or bad purposes.
The digital revolution offers not only a threat, but also a hope to child safety – if we use technology in the right way.
Tools already exist which use Artificial Intelligence to combat child abuse. However, the offenders are still one step ahead. New approaches are needed.
So, how do we speed up this development?
One first step is to bring some of the sharpest minds of Artificial Intelligence and child safety together. And this is why Her Majesty and I have invited you here today, for this Round Table discussion.
In this room, we have policy makers and business leaders. We have experts on child protection and artificial intelligence. We have representatives for law enforcement agencies, non-profit organizations and major global technology companies.
You are here today to share knowledge, experiences and best practices. But above all, today’s round table is a call for new ideas.
The Queen and I are pleased that so many of you have chosen to answer that call.
Now, I look very much forward to today’s discussions.
Once again, a warm welcome!