Using AI Responsibly in Youth Sector: Co-Designing A Toolkit for Responsible GenAI use

Generative Artificial intelligence (GenAI) is rapidly becoming part of everyday practice in youth work, often through informal experimentation that precedes formal guidance or governance. Recognising both the opportunities and risks this creates, Swinburne University of Technology and Youth Affairs Council Victoria (YACVic) partnered to examine how GenAI is currently being used in the Victorian youth sector and to co-design a Responsible AI Use in Youth Services Toolkit that centres young people’s rights, participation, and wellbeing. Drawing on a review of emerging evidence about AI in human services and youth work, the project highlights how AI can support administrative efficiency and information work while raising complex questions about transparency, accountability, bias, and the preservation of relational, trust-based practice. Through co-design workshops with youth practitioners and with young people, the project developed a set of youth-informed principles and practice tools, and conversation guides to support responsible AI use.

Key outputs include (1) a set of “Three Commitments for AI Use” articulating that AI must assist rather than replace human judgement, (2) an AI Use Matrix that distinguishes acceptable from high-risk uses of AI in youth services, (3) an AI Decision-Making Checklist to guide everyday practice, and (4) a Four-Layer Model of transparency, disclosure, and consent grounded in young people’s expectations. These resources provide a starting point for youth-sector organisations seeking to use GenAI in ways that enhance practice, maintain trust, and safeguard the rights, safety, and agency of young people.

keywords: responsible artificial intelligence; youth-centred practice;

• with: Joel McGregor, Prathiksha Ashok Raj Kumar, Sam Champion, Caleb Loyd, and Abigail Sheed
• for: Swinburne University of Technology & Youth Affairs Council Victoria
• year: May 2026 — August 2026
• download: Industry Report