Can AI save our children?
It seems like we have to choose what is worth more to us as a society: the well-being of children or keeping our private data safe? On 29 of July, 2022, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) and the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) adopted a Joint Opinion on the Proposal for a Regulation to prevent and combat child sexual abuse. Its aim is to impose obligations when it comes to detecting, removing, reporting and blocking known and new online child sexual abuse material (CSAM). While child sexual exploitation must be stopped, the EDPB stated that only strictly necessary and proportionate information should be retained in these cases, as the right to private life and data protection shall be upheld. They believe the use of artificial intelligence (hereinafter: AI) to scan users’ communications could also generate errors, which may lead to false accusations.