Young people from two Scottish youth groups are stepping up to explore how AI is affecting them and their peers. The project is led by YouthLink Scotland with funding from the Include Plus Network. Young people are choosing which topics to explore and will be offered support to help them carry out the youth-led research in an ethical way.
On Thursday 18th September youth workers from Cromar Future Group and The Citadel Youth Centre in Leith presented about the project at the Include Plus Symposium at Leeds University. The networks interests are around digital inclusion, helping to explore how to ensure that digital technology benefits everyone in society. Projects that enable young people’s voices to be heard are directly relevant to their work.
Cromar Future Group is a tech club based in rural Aberdeenshire, with a group that meets online as well as an in-person club. Young people from the group are interested in exploring how AI is influencing politics and also how AI is being used in relation to university admissions and what young people need to know on that topic.
The Citadel Youth Centre, Leith provides a wide range of youth and intergenerational activities. The Youth Spark group that are taking part in this project have joined the group because they are interested in the topic of generative AI. The group are still exploring where they will focus their research, but are interested in the impact of AI on creativity and on young people’s perceptions around body image. They are also exploring the question “Who pays for AI.”
Hilary Phillips, Senior Development Officer for Digital Youth Work said:
“We’re delighted to be working with the two groups of young people to support them to carry out some research and look forward to hearing more as their projects develop. Projects like this are so valuable in enabling us to listen directly to what young people are saying.”
In addition to the young people’s outputs a key element of the project is to create some guidelines for the youth work sector around the use of generative AI, especially in direct work with young people. If this is a topic which is relevant to you and you are interested in getting involved, please contact Hilary Phillips.
The project is led by YouthLink Scotland with funding from the Include Plus Network. The two youth groups were selected from an open call out to the sector. Digital Skills Education have supported the project, with great inputs on key themes such as AI and creativity, a reality check on the cost of AI to the planet and a lively session on misinformation, entitled How to Rig an Election using AI.
Sopra Steria, a major tech player in Europe, and the Scottish AI Alliance are both contributing to the steering group for the project which is an exciting example of cross sectoral working.