Ms Alison Fox:

The project came about through our work in the youth sector. We work with youth workers. We hear from them about the whole issue of AI, including the challenges and opportunities that young people are speaking about.

We are really conscious that, as a sector, we need to train and upskill youth workers, just as we must train and upskill teachers, on the use of AI. How do we better support young people when they engage with AI but also how do we support young people when they come across harm within that? One part of the project is the consultation with young people. Reuban talked about engaging with a cross-representative group of young people on their views on loads of areas within AI. It is also about looking to develop continuing professional development, CPD, for the youth workers who are at the coalface day to day engaging with young people, particularly in very vulnerable communities. Lots of youth services are largely based in very poor communities. We see a real digital divide there, one on the education level but also, as we already talked about, access to resources within that.

The project is two-pronged. We are also working with the Office of the Ombudsman for Children to see how we can increase awareness among young people. Coming out of the AI juries, we are looking at what specific issues young people are talking about and how we can ensure a youth voice is engaging in all these discussions on an ongoing basis. As Fionn, Grace and Reuban all talked about, they have a real stake in the future in terms of that. How do we raise up their voice on an ongoing basis and better support young people to engage in those discussions?