Geoffrey Fowler and the Launch of the Youth AI Safety Institute

Geoffrey Fowler, on his blog, which, alas, he calls “a Substack”:

I’m joining the Youth AI Safety Institute as its first new employee. It’s a research and testing organization launching today under the umbrella of children’s nonprofit Common Sense Media. Backed by a $20 million annual budget, the Institute aims to do something that doesn’t really exist yet: systematically test the AI products kids use, set safety standards, and publicly hold tech companies accountable for meeting them. Think crash test dummies for AI.

On the surface this sounds like a great idea, and Fowler does have a strong background in consumer-oriented product reviews.

My title is Head of Public Engagement — a kind of editor-at-large. I’ll work alongside researchers, computer scientists, pediatricians, clinical psychologists and educators to investigate what happens when kids use AI products, including chatbots, games, educational apps, furry AI toys and whatever comes next. My job is to help turn those findings into something families, educators, policymakers and tech leaders can use.

“We safety-test kids’ PJs. Why not their AI?” says my new colleague at Common Sense, Bruce Reed, who helped craft the Biden White House’s groundbreaking 2023 AI Executive Order.

What exactly did Biden’s AI Executive Order accomplish? As far as I know, absolutely nothing.

Some tech power players, including Anthropic and the OpenAI Foundation, have joined a consortium of foundations and private donors funding the Institute’s work. They get no say over what we publish. (And in my time at The Washington Post, I didn’t let Jeff Bezos’ ownership of the newspaper affect my criticism of Amazon.)

I’m not sure I’ve ever in my life used the phrase “Good luck with that” non-sarcastically, but in this case I mean it: good luck with that. I hope it works out, and someone has to pay the bills (and salaries). But color me skeptical about the foxes funding the henhouse inspectors.

★ Thursday, 14 May 2026