As Kenya joins the world in celebrating the International Safer Internet Day, Kenyan parents have been put on the spot over their children’s online safety.

Speaking during the celebrations under the theme, ‘Amplifying Technical Tools for a Safer Online World’, Principal Secretary for the Ministry of Communication, Prof Edward Kisiang’ani raised concerns about parents’ role in exposing their children to online risks.

The PS emphasised that while the internet is largely blamed for unsafe digital content, parents too are the promoters of unethical behaviours.

The PS also queried parents’ ability to navigate Artificial Intelligence (AI), which influences children’s exposure to harmful content, posing immense risk to children’s safety.

Ensuring safety’

According to him, many parents are not well-versed with modern-day technology which is AI-driven. As such, they are unaware of the type of content their children engage with.

“Some parents don’t have the capacity to use AI. But their children have some knowledge in AI. How can such a parent take charge in ensuring online safety and possibly take up this challenge?” questioned the PS.

His remarks come amid growing concerns of AI-generated content that lead to misinformation and unregulated materials, exposing minors to safety risks.

In addition, Kisiang’ani further warned that the increased use of AI-driven image manipulation tools such as Photoshop can destroy families and relationships, posing a grave danger to the society at large.

“AI can destroy the entire world. Internet ruins relationships and families worldwide. Incidents such as creating Photoshops of people and putting them in compromising situations is a big threat, and this is what most of our tech-savvy children do,” he warned.

Michael Murungi, Director Legal and Regulatory Affairs further warned that AI, a part of the transformative technology in this modern-day results in misinformation and cyber security.

He called on parents to ensure their children’s devices are safety-enabled.

“Parents need to ensure safety measures for the child before they engage in online content,” he said.

The Cabinet Secretary for Information and Communication, William Kabogo highlighted that the government has undertaken several initiatives to ensure the online safety of children and vulnerable groups including women and people living with disabilities as they navigate the digital space.