Executive Summary This report consolidates recommendations by 24 young professionals from the OSCE region and from OSCE Partners for Co-operation regions, including the OSCE Pool of Young Experts, developed at the Winter School on “Risks and opportunities of AI: Youth perspectives on AI use and Human Rights” at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) in Geneva. The event was organized from 15 to 17 December 2025 in Geneva by the OSCE Secretariat, in co-operation with GCSP, highlighting importance of human rights compliant AI use and youth perspectives in shaping AI policies. Throughout the Winter School, participants engaged in discussions on the OSCE’s Youth and Security Agenda, the Organization’s work with its Partners for Co-operation, the interplay between science and diplomacy, the history of AI, and, importantly, the risks and opportunities associated with the use of AI. Sessions led by the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Representative on Freedom of the Media (RFoM) addressed challenges and opportunities posed by AI to freedom of thought, access to information, freedom of expression and media freedom. Participants also reflected on the security implications of emerging technologies and the responsible use of AI for professional purposes, while contributing as co-facilitators alongside OSCE staff members. The recommendations were developed in response to the following guiding reflection questions: ● How can youth be empowered to understand, question, and influence AI systems and their governance? ● How can young people be meaningfully included in AI policy discussions at local, national, and international levels? ● How can AI be designed, developed, deployed, and governed in a human rights-compliant way that ensures equitable access across backgrounds, abilities, and regions? ● How should international organizations support youth education on AI literacy, including human rights-compliant AI? ● What role can international organizations play in bridging the digital divide, and how can training reach youth with limited access to digital tools? This report presents structured recommendations developed by the participating young professionals in response to the questions outlined above. The views expressed are solely those of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the OSCE Secretariat or of other OSCE structures involved in the training.
The recommendations can contribute to OSCE’s work in engaging further on AI- related issues and including young experts as speakers, panellists, and contributors. As active users of digital technologies and as engaged citizens, young people can play an important role in ensuring that AI is designed, developed, and deployed in line with human rights standards and in a transparent, responsible, and accountable manner. Youth should be recognized and included as stakeholders, experts, and co-creators in AI governance. Participation should be facilitated, structurally embedded, diverse, and continuous across policy cycles. Mechanisms include but are not limited to youth councils, citizens' assemblies, advisory boards, and multi-level engagement platforms. Recommendations of young experts developed at the Winter School on “Risks and opportunities of AI: Youth perspectives on AI use and Human Rights.” 1. How can youth be empowered to understand, question, and influence AI systems and their governance? Empowering young people in AI governance requires integrating AI literacy components across formal education systems from an early age through higher education. AI literacy components should extend beyond technical skills to include human rights awareness, safety standards, ethical considerations, governance, and the societal and cross-cutting impacts of AI, including mechanisms of gender inequality and marginalization, enabling youth to critically assess how AI systems work, who controls them, whose interests they serve, and whether they are safe, human rights-compliant and beneficial for society. At the same time, governments should create accessible tools, platforms, and safe spaces that allow young people to meaningfully participate in AI policymaking and in the exercise of oversight. Youth-led research, advocacy, and innovation should be supported through funding, mentorship, and strengthened youth councils and forums at local, national, and international levels. Moving beyond passive use, young people should be empowered as co-creators, watchdogs, and decision-shapers of AI, ensuring their participation contributes to AI outcomes that benefit society, builds public trust, and strengthens democratic governance in the digital age. 2. How can young people be meaningfully included in AI policy discussions at local, national, and international levels? Meaningful youth participation in AI governance requires early, sustained, and inclusive engagement across all levels of decision-making. Engagement should start locally by working with youth councils, schools, community organizations, and youth- oriented NGOs, and be supported by institutions such as ombudspersons or human rights bodies with technical expertise. Youth must be recognized as key stakeholder
group with specific experiences and expertise, not merely as consultees, and their participation should be facilitated, resourced, and linked directly to policy outcomes. Governments should embed youth participation throughout the entire AI policy cycle, from agenda-setting and design to implementation, evaluation, and legislative sign-off. This includes creating formal roles for youth representatives in decision- making structures, establishing diverse and transparent citizens’ assemblies on AI, and supporting youth-led research, advocacy, and media engagement. Participation must go beyond a “youth bubble” and reflect the lived experiences of young people as AI users and as rights-holders, particularly in the context of AI-related risks such as online abuse, deepfakes, labour market disruption, and digital surveillance. Strong AI literacy and capacity-building are essential to enable informed participation. Education systems and public awareness initiatives should provide critical AI literacy that goes beyond technical skills to include human rights, safety, equality, and societal impacts, while allowing flexibility for local contexts and unequal access to technology. A combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, aligning international standards with local realities, is necessary to ensure AI policies are inclusive, equitable, and effective, and that diverse youth voices meaningfully shape how AI systems are designed, governed, and regulated. 3. How can AI be designed, developed, deployed, and governed in a human rights-compliant way that ensures equitable access across backgrounds, abilities, and regions? AI should be designed, developed, deployed, and governed within a human rights- based framework that prioritizes equality, non-discrimination, accountability, transparency, and inclusion. Strong safeguards on data collection and use are essential, including clear disclosure of how personal data is used, meaningful opt-in options for data used in AI training, and strict protections for sensitive data. Legal responsibility for AI-related harm must remain with human actors, developers, deployers, and platform owners. AI systems should be required to provide transparent, explainable, and reliable outputs, including the ability to acknowledge uncertainty rather than generate misleading or false information. Preventative and adaptive governance is needed to address risks before harm occurs. This includes mandatory human rights impact assessments throughout the AI lifecycle, independent monitoring and oversight bodies with technical expertise, pre- deployment testing (for example through regulatory sandboxes), and transparent certification and safety standards. Regulations should be human rights-based, clear, proportionate, and adaptable over time, drawing – at a minimum – on risk-based approaches, and supported by international cooperation to establish global minimum standards and address cross-border impacts.
Ensuring equitable access to the benefits of AI should be promoted as part of states’ human rights obligations. Access to AI-enabled services that benefit human rights and the public interest should be treated as an extension of digital rights, with public investment in inclusive and affordable AI for education and social good. AI systems must be designed to accommodate diverse abilities, languages, and cultural contexts, while public or non-profit AI tools can help reduce commercial bias and access gaps. Civic education, AI literacy, and support for civil society as independent watchdogs are essential to empower individuals and communities to understand, challenge, and shape AI systems in ways that protect human rights across regions and populations. 4. How should international organizations support youth education on AI literacy, including human rights-compliant AI? International organizations should play a central role in strengthening youth AI literacy through inclusive, rights-based education and capacity-building. This includes developing freely accessible, high-quality online learning platforms and training materials that integrate technical AI knowledge with critical thinking, human rights, ethics, accountability, and the ability to identify AI misuse and disinformation. AI education should be adapted to local contexts, languages, and levels of digital access, and delivered in partnership with youth-led and community-based organizations that have established trust and reach. To ensure sustainability, international organizations should invest in infrastructure, including connectivity and digital equipment for under-resourced schools, alongside long-term training and maintenance support. Capacity-building efforts should prioritize training-of-trainers programs for educators, youth workers, legislators, and regulators, enabling knowledge transfer at scale. Collaboration with Ministries of Education can support the integration of AI literacy into national curricula through a two-tier approach that combines national context with internationally developed resources, certifications, and guidance. International organizations should also use their convening power to bring together youth, educators, policymakers, and civil society in policy dialogues, workshops, hackathons, and international forums, ensuring the inclusion of young people from diverse and marginalized backgrounds. By mainstreaming critical engagement with AI and its impact across policy areas such as democracy, security, and the environment, and by involving young people in shaping AI education and governance frameworks, international organizations can help ensure that youth are equipped to engage with AI critically, responsibly, and in line with human rights principles.
5. What role can international organizations play in bridging the digital divide, and how can training reach youth with limited access to digital tools? International organizations can help bridge the digital divide by investing in locally grounded, sustainable digital infrastructure such as at schools, youth centers, and community hubs, while supporting research that maps effective, context-specific and human rights-based approaches to digital inclusion. These investments should be paired with capacity-building and community ownership to ensure long-term impact, and do no harm. Training and education must be inclusive and flexible, combining access to hardware, connectivity, and software with digital and AI literacy that promotes safe, critical, and meaningful use. At the same time, education must continue to fulfil its core role in cultivating independent thinking alongside socio-emotional skills. Training-of-trainers models, local training centers, and multimodal delivery, including offline, low-bandwidth, and mobile outreach, can help reach youth in remote or underserved areas. Field offices, grassroots organizations, and youth-led groups should play a central role in program design and implementation to address local barriers. International organizations can also use public-private partnerships to expand affordable access to digital services and tools, while ensuring contributions align with human rights and public interest goals. Public awareness campaigns using platforms popular with young people, alongside intergenerational and inclusive dialogue, can further extend outreach. By combining infrastructure, skills development, critical thinking, and multi-stakeholder cooperation, international organizations can promote equitable digital access and meaningful participation for youth across regions and backgrounds. 6. How can international organizations foster tech-for-good initiatives that are youth-inclusive and youth-led? International organizations can foster youth-inclusive and youth-led tech-for-good initiatives by acting as conveners, enablers, and standard-setters. They should facilitate multi-stakeholder dialogues that bring together youth, governments, civil society, and the private sector, and promote responsible public–private partnerships aligned with ethical and human rights standards. Youth must be supported not only as participants but as leaders and decision-makers, being represented and included in committees, working groups, and partnerships. Dedicated funding, mentorship, and entrepreneurship support should be provided to youth-led projects addressing social, environmental, and human rights challenges. International organizations can leverage their regional and global networks to scale
successful initiatives, establish platforms for sharing good practices and impact data, and support or provide certification or recognition, such as standards for responsible AI, to increase credibility and sustainability. Delegating expert roles to young people and creating intergenerational dialogue spaces ensures that youth expertise, including in technical and social justice fields, meaningfully shapes tech-for-good innovation and governance.