We are excited to announce the launch of CESIUM, a ground-breaking safeguarding platform that leverages ethical AI to identify and prioritise vulnerable children who may be at risk of exploitation. CESIUM represents a significant leap forward in safeguarding children, with the potential to revolutionise the way that safeguarding data is managed and shared across different agencies.
In a single agency deployment, CESIUM provides safeguarding professionals with near real-time access to safeguarding data, enabling them to proactively review case files and identify hidden vulnerabilities. This deployment extracts and merges data from single agency databases. So far, CESIUM has successfully integrated with both the NICHE records management system and the COMPACT missing persons database, with capabilities in place to integrate with a far wider range of software and systems. In a recent validation exercise, CESIUM demonstrated its operational value for safeguarding; proactively identifying vulnerable children for pre-screening at the Multi-Agency Child Exploitation (MACE) working group.
But the true potential of CESIUM lies in its multi-agency deployment that delivers the near real-time sharing of a safeguarding partnership’s data in a secure cloud. Currently, it takes a partnership around 5 days to process 12 cases. In a multi-agency deployment, however, CESIUM reduces that 5 days’ work to a single day, resulting in a 400% uplift in operational capacity per year. Ultimately, this reduction in processing time allows safeguarding professionals to spend more time focusing on safeguarding children from exploitation.
CESIUM uses ethical artificial intelligence to enhance the human-led decisions being made about the most vulnerable children in our society. The following elements are fully considered to ensure the development of a system that provides robust decision-making for safeguarding:
- We work closely with safeguarding experts to co-design bespoke software, meeting the high standards required in this crucial area of work.
- We develop usable, explainable reporting, directing the analytical effort towards the most relevant records about a case.
- We establish tools to explore the potential biases and blind spots in data.
- We provide a full suite of training, ensuring users can fully engage with, and use, CESIUM’s outputs.
CESIUM represents a game-changing new product in the world of safeguarding. Its innovative approach has the potential to transform the way that safeguarding data is managed and shared across different agencies. This transformation enables safeguarding professionals to proactively identify vulnerable children and prioritise their protection. We are proud to be at the forefront of this important work, and we look forward to seeing CESIUM make a real difference in the lives of children who need it most.
