SECURING THE DIGITAL FOOTPRINTS OF MINORS: PRIVACY IMPLICATIONS OF AI

Abstract

The unprecedented growth of ‘Artificial Intelligence’ (hereinafter referred to as AI) has      brought immense benefits but at the same time has posed complex challenges that has impacted users’ lives, including privacy and data security, particularly, children who are vulnerable to these problems. This paper examines privacy of children in the era of AI and the legal framework’s adequacy in protecting children’s privacy, focusing on India, the world’s most populous nation in 2024,^[1] with over 833.7 million^[2] internet users, accounting for more than half of its population. With the advent of AI, unprecedented accumulation, processing, and analysis of massive datasets has become possible by algorithms applying predictive analytics on discrete datasets. Nevertheless,  AI’s pattern recognition ability has blurred privacy boundaries which has enabled it to feed on sensitive information such as that concerning health, emotions, interests, and behaviours. Due to innate curiosity and digital immersion, children are more susceptible to privacy violations in this ‘AI-driven’ digital era. Since children possess a limited understanding of privacy risks, they are more likely to share information online. Consequently, there is an urgent need to address the issue concerning the increased digital footprint of children and the associated conflict between the ‘age of consent’ and the ‘age of contractual capacity’ for the purpose of fixing the ‘digital age’ of the child. Such a requirement can be potentially addressed through legislative intervention by enacting a comprehensive piece of legislation to regulate the ubiquitous collection of data. Facial recognition, predictive analytics, autonomous systems, and other AI applications, could be the reason for the apprehensions that systemic discrimination could occur and governance is also at stake that points out the need for transparency and accountability.  While AI brings with itself exponential growth, there is also a need to underscore the importance of protecting children’s right to privacy, given their vulnerability. A comprehensive legislative framework, responsible corporate policies, and increased awareness can help strike a balance, allowing children to harness AI’s benefits while safeguarding their fundamental rights.