Protecting Families in the Age of Generative AI: A British Settlement for Child Safety, Freedom and Growth

Generative AI is changing childhood, education, policing, public trust and family life. Parents, schools and local leaders are now facing risks that did not exist in the same form a few years ago: synthetic grooming, deepfakes, AI-generated sexual abuse material, identity manipulation, coercive chatbots and a widening gap between what children can access and what adults can realistically supervise. Protecting Families in the Age of Generative AI sets out a serious, practical and UK-focused response. >Matthew McEvoy, MBCS brings an IT security and public-interest perspective to one of the most urgent questions of the next decade: How can the UK embrace AI without leaving children, parents and schools to carry the risk alone? This book explains how generative AI has changed online harm, why deepfakes and synthetic relationships require a stronger safeguarding response, why parents and schools need better support, and what practical action can be taken nationally, locally and at home. It is evidence-backed, politically current and written in plain English for decision-makers and families who want solutions rather than slogans. The author gratefully acknowledges the use of AI-assisted tools to support in the research of organisations, evidence review, editing and manuscript formatting. The final judgement, interpretation, recommendations and responsibility for the published work remain with the author.