UNICEF names Arm as founding partner of inclusive AI ecosystem ‘AI in Play’
Open to all tech sector allies, the initiative supports diverse AI innovators addressing health, learning, climate resilience and helping young people build AI literacy.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping health, learning and social systems around the world. However, many children and communities that could benefit still face limited access to the technology, infrastructure and expertise needed to develop and deploy AI-based solutions locally.
UNICEF names Arm as founding partner of AI in Play, a global innovation ecosystem designed to close that gap. Co-designed by UNICEF and Arm, we bring together technology companies, entrepreneurs, governments and young people to develop practical AI-based solutions and models that improve children's health, learning and climate resilience in emerging economies.
Through an open ecosystem encouraging broad collaboration and innovation, AI in Play ensures the benefits of AI reach the communities that need them most, while preparing the next generation to shape the AI economy.
AI in Play, led by the UNICEF Global Programme Division’s Innovation Office, supports a range of solutions and models, including:
- AI-powered air quality monitoring in Lao People’s Democratic Republic
- Bookbot - a virtual reading assistant supporting children in Colombia
- Climate Ventures an initiative identifying climate resilient frontier tech solutions
- Tinkering with Tech and AI, an AI literacy initiative for children
- Natural language processing in West and Central Africa adapting AI language models to understand the languages children and frontline workers speak across the region.
These solutions and models rely on edge AI, where the technology runs on a device rather than requiring constant cloud connectivity. This makes AI more accessible, affordable and reliable in communities where internet access, cost or infrastructure remain significant barriers.
The decisions the tech industry makes about AI in the next four years will shape how a whole generation of children grow up, learn and work. Arm has shown what it looks like to make that decision with children in mind: a decade of joint work with UNICEF and an investment of expertise and resources to co-design AI in Play, an ecosystem open to the tech sector to join and play a critical and positive role.
“At a time when global response requires multisectoral collaboration, UNICEF’s partnership with Arm is a critical enabler for and invitation to the tech sector to leverage a seminal opportunity to shape an equitable AI economy and build responsible AI for and with children and young people," van der Heijden added.
UNICEF has spent the last decade supporting communities of frontier tech builders in emerging economies, strengthening relationships with governments and delivering a rights-based mandate that keeps children's interests at the centre of how AI is built for them. Arm brings decades of experience as the foundational platform for AI, enabling developers and technology partners to build efficient, scalable AI across billions of devices.
The technology industry has a shared responsibility to help ensure the benefits of AI reach everyone. With Arm technology powering billions of devices worldwide and UNICEF’s global reach to communities most in need, together we can help diverse innovators build AI solutions that improve children's lives and equip the next generation with the skills to shape the future. We hope others across the industry will join us."
Initial impact targets for AI in Play include reaching 2.5 million children and communities across 12 countries, supporting 20 AI-powered ventures and equipping 200,000 young people with foundational AI literacy skills.
UNICEF and Arm are calling on other tech sector allies to align and join as partners in the AI in Play ecosystem. Technology companies can contribute engineering expertise, AI tools, infrastructure, mentoring, and investment to help local innovators and governments develop AI-based solutions and models that improve the lives of children and young people at scale.
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UNICEF does not endorse any company, brand, product, or service.
