Campaigners' alarm over use of AI in consulation on under-16s social media ban
The two fathers have said they will take their challenge against the UK government on its use of AI all the way to the High Court
Parents have sounded the alarm over the UK government’s use of AI in a consultation launched on the danger of tech for young people.
Ministers have admitted the results of the Growing Up in an Online World consultation will be summarised using technology.
But the premise of the survey - which will inform any ban on social media use for under-16s - is around the danger of AI to young people.
READ MORE: UK social media ban consultation under threat from legal action by Scots father over privacy issues
Two fathers have now said they are preparing to take Liz Kendall to the High Court over the issue.
One, Harry Amies, of Edinburgh-based Unplug.Scot, said: “How can the government consider it sensible to use AI to summarise parents’ views on AI regulation?”
Mr Amies called the conflict of interest “obvious”.
“Given that government guidance for school children highlights AI's risk of bias and propensity to mislead, their decision to rely on AI to influence government policy makes it look like they’ve lost touch with reality,” he added.
“For multiple reasons, and as a number of Peers in the House of Lords have pointed out, it appears to be deliberately skewed to give a result which favours the tech industry.”
Mr Amies is joined in the legal action by Will Orr-Ewing, founder of Generation Alpha, a group challenging the use of smartphones in schools.
The national consultation was launched on March 2, 2026 and is canvassing the public’s views on children’s online safety and access to social media, chatbots and AI tools.
It is looking towards a possible ban of access to social media for under 16s.
MPs are voting for a second time this Wednesday to implement age restrictions for harmful online services.
The Lords has rejected a government motion to base legislation on its outcome at the sole discretion of the Secretary of State.
Ms Kendall, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, was a focus of a legal action last month by Mr Amies around privacy concerns connected to the survey.
The government subsequently altered how private data will be used.
However, the government's survey contractor Savanta revealed it will be using both Amazon and Microsoft’s Azure AI platforms to process responses.
Mr Amies added: “First Savanta said they would be sharing parents’ personal details with Google and Meta, then they backtracked and said they wouldn’t, and now they've been forced to reveal they'll be using unnamed AI models, potentially created by X or Meta, to summarise responses.
“Parents and children across the country have spent hundreds of thousands of hours filing in nuanced responses to the government’s survey, but now we discover that the only response that Ministers may see is one prepared by Grok, Meta or ChatGPT.”
Mr Amies and Mr Orr-Ewing allege a conflict of interest, given the AI language models have been developed by the same companies that stand to face regulation as a result of the consultation.
They further point to the problems of bias in AI results and claim the use of the technology will render the consultation unfair, unreasonable and therefore unlawful.
If the case makes it as far as the High Court then any judgment would affect the use of AI by all public bodies in processing responses to consultations.
“We're bringing this action because proprietary AI owned by multi-billion-pound commercial interests should not be allowed to become the filter through which Ministers see the world.
“By fact of design, these models are not neutral,” Mr Amies added.
“We hope the Minister will rapidly see sense, take a breath, and change course, but if not, we are ready to take the government all the way to the High Court on this.
“Both the law and basic common sense are on our side.”
The UK government has been contacted for comment.
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.