Responsible GenAI in the Youth Sectors: Co-Designing Safe, Ethical and Youth-Centred Approaches to Digital Innovation

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is rapidly reshaping practice across youth justice, child protection, and out-of-home care, often faster than policies and safeguards can keep pace. This presentation shares findings from the Responsible AI in Youth Sectors project, a Victorian initiative using workshops, interviews, and co-design to explore current uses of AI, associated ethical and relational risks, and opportunities for sector-wide transformation grounded in trauma-informed, youth-centred practice.

Practitioners identified significant risks, including privacy and confidentiality breaches, consent and data sovereignty issues, accuracy and bias, environmental impacts, and the potential erosion of reflective practice skills such as case-note writing. They also expressed concern about algorithmic decision-support tools shaping assessments of risk, vulnerability, and readiness for transition—domains where relational judgment is critical.

At the same time, practitioners see strong potential for AI to reduce administrative burden, improve accessibility and multilingual communication, support data analysis, and free time for relational work, if implemented safely and with clear safeguards. They emphasised the importance of defining which tasks AI may enhance and which must remain human-led. For young people navigating or exiting care and justice systems, poorly governed AI risks reinforcing surveillance, criminalisation, and structural disadvantage.

The presentation concludes by outlining emerging sector priorities, including data governance, youth-centred consent, culturally safe approaches, workforce capability building, co-designed organisational guidelines, and the development of shared standards across youth services.

keywords: responsible artificial intelligence; youth-centred practice; youth justice

• with: Joel McGregor (lead), and Caleb Lloyd
• year: December 2025 — ongoing