Org Report

Common Sense Media Launches Youth AI Safety Institute

May 2026 🇺🇸 Common Sense Media

This press release announces Common Sense Media's launch of the Youth AI Safety Institute, an independent research and testing body intended to evaluate AI products used by children against safety benchmarks, comparable in concept to vehicle crash-test ratings. Founder and CEO Jim Steyer is quoted arguing that AI is reshaping childhood and adolescence before regulators, parents, or companies have the evidence needed to judge what is safe for kids. The release describes the Institute's planned work: publishing open-source evaluation tools developers can use, independently testing AI products marketed to or used by children, and publishing results for public accountability, while stating the Institute intends to maintain editorial independence from its corporate and philanthropic funders. TechKids Foundation includes this as the founding document of Steyer's most recent institutional initiative, focused specifically on generative-AI-era child-safety risks.

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CITATION

Common Sense Media. "Common Sense Media Launches Youth AI Safety Institute." Press release, May 5, 2026.

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