A coalition of major tech companies, including Alphabet Inc., OpenAI, Roblox Corp., and Discord, has launched an initiative focused on improving child safety online.

This coalition, named Robust Open Online Safety Tools (ROOST), announced its efforts at the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris on Feb. 10.

ROOST has secured over US$27 million in funding to develop free, open-source tools that detect and combat online child exploitation.

These AI-powered tools will help identify and report child sexual abuse material while making essential safety measures more accessible.

The initiative comes as reports of suspected child exploitation continue to rise.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children recorded a 12% increase from 2022 to 2023, driven by better detection tools and increased internet use among children

During this time, reports involving Roblox grew by 348%, while incidents linked to Discord doubled.