Daily Safeguarding News - Safer Schools

Rishi Sunak says we must tackle AI dangers for the sake of our grandchildren

The PM, Rishi Sunak called for international collaboration to seize the benefits of AI while ensuring it develops in a “safe and responsible way”.
He will host two sessions at the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park.
King Charles has also commented on AI, opening the first day of the conference. He called AI “one of the greatest technological leaps in the history of human endeavour” adding, “If we are to realise the untold benefits of AI then we must work together on combatting it’s significant risks, too”.
Ahead of meeting with the PM, Elon Musk called for a body to oversee companies developing AI.
When asked how he could reassure people that they will not be left unemployed by the rapid changes or have their wages suppressed, the PM said he understood the anxiety people had about AI making their jobs redundant, and that AI is creating jobs.
For more, please visit the Telegraph website.

A former children’s holiday camp manager who groomed more than 70 teenage boys online has been jailed for 13 years and five years on licence.
The 45-year-old pleaded guilty to 36 separate charges earlier this year including attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity, causing a child to engage in sexual activity, sexual communication with a child, and making two category C indecent images of children.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) unmasked the predator who pretended to be a 16-year-old girl, and hid behind the online alias, “Lizzielemon”.
He preyed on people on Instagram, MyLol and Love Crush before moving conversations to Google Hangouts, Discord and Skype.
Investigators also found he searched online for underage boys in Colombia ahead of a planned visit.
Bethany Raine, Specialist Prosecutor in the CPS’ Organised Child Sexual Abuse Unit, reported: “Our Organised Child Sexual Abuse Unit was set up last year to prosecute child sexual abuse. Through the work of this unit, the CPS is determined to help stop the devastating impact of these crimes on victims.”
For more, please visit the Belfast Telegraph website.

A teenage boy who has been accused of multiple rapes was housed in Airbnbs by the local authority after regulated accommodation providers said it was too risky for them to house him.
Family judge Mrs Justice Lieven stated it was “absolutely astonishing” that Coventry council had seen fit to place the vulnerable boy in a series of unregulated placements over the country – from which he has frequently absconded.
He was later placed in an unregulated children’s home.
The boy’s court-appointed guardian reported that the placement has meant he is struggling with the most basic containment, and deplored the fact the staff at the children’s home allowed him to smoke cannabis on the property.
Lieven reported that depriving a child of liberty in this situation could be seen as a “legal sticking plaster” for a “wholly unacceptable” standard of care.
For more, please visit The Guardian website.

A 26-year-old student nurse researched suicide methods online before taking her life. She was found in a hotel room in Cardiff.
South Wales Central coroner Graeme Hughes has warned that more people may die after using forums discussing suicide methods.
Mr Hughes reported that the evidence from the inquest revealed she had “registered and was engaging in discussion forums” online about suicide methods and was “discussing and seeking advice from fellow users”.
The coroner stated he was concerned that sites “facilitating, or promoting” suicide were available to vulnerable individuals, due to their diagnosed or otherwise mental illness.
Mr Hughes said action should be taken to remove, limit or mitigate the availability of these websites.
It comes after UK broadband providers said they have blocked access to a website promoting suicide.
For more, please visit the BBC News website.