Working Groups

At the Central Youth Advocacy Network, we believe that one of the most powerful ways we can bring youth voices to decision making spaces is through extensive online consultation and submission development.

Artificial Intelligence Working Group

Amelia Phommachanh

Azuki Holder-Sakamoto

Amelia Phommachanh is a mental health advocate and ambassador from Palmerston. She currently serves as the Central Youth Advocacy Network's Engagement and Partnerships Coordinator, as well as acting as an Ambassador for Headspace Palmerston, and as a youth advisor on Teach Us Consent's Youth Advisory Group, and the Office for Youth's Mental Health Youth Advisory Group.

Azuki Holder-Sakamoto is a youth advocate from Kangaroo Island. She is passionate about equitable education in rural, regional and remote areas. Azuki currently serves as the South Australian Representative on the National Youth Steering Committee, the Kangaroo Island Representative on the Youth Affairs Council of South Australia's Youth Info Hub Working Group.

Diva Sree Pant

Charlotte Harn

Diva Sree Pant is a young advocate from Central Australia. She cares deeply about ensuring that young people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds know that they are valued, equal and heard. Diva currently serves as the Media and Communications Coordinator on the Northern Territory Youth Round Table.

Charlotte Harn is a young advocate from Darwin who is passionate about mental health advocacy, equality and inclusion from LGBTQIA+ young people. Charlotte currently serves as a 2026 Northern Territory Youth Round Table Member and is our co-media and communications coordinator at the Central Youth Advocacy network.

Tara Varier

(05)

Ishaan Chaudhuri

(06)

Tara Varier is passionate about using her access to education, technology and safety as tools to enable her to help ensure that everyone has equal opportunities, regardless of where they were born. She currently serves as member of the eSafety Youth Council, the Cumberland Council Y4Y group and is Central Youth Advocacy Network Ambassador.

Ishaan Chaudhuri is an advocate from South Australia. He currently serves as the National Executive Secretary for the Australian Medical Students Association, the South Australian Committee Chair for Doctors for the Environment Australia, the Chief Marketing Officer at ClimateShield, Co-President of the Flinders Health and Human Rights Group, a member of the Flinders University Rural Health Society and the Secretary of the Central Youth Advocacy Network.

Young people stand at a critical intersection. We will bear the environmental toll of the rapid expansion of Artificial Intelligence, including resource consumption, emissions and pollution driven by large scale data centres which will threaten the liveability of our communities. Yet we will also benefit from a tool that will make access to education, information, community, and support more equal regardless of region, and resources.

"AI has incredible potential to bridge the divide for regional and remote youth who are currently left behind by resource and service shortages. But access shouldn't come at the expense of our safety, privacy, or environment. Proper regulation ensures AI serves as an equalizer rather than another driver of inequality."

-Ishaan Chaudhuri-Central Youth Advocacy Network Ambassador and 2026 South Australian Young Citizen of the Year

Working Group Members

Sienna Matte-Hado

Esther Klerck

Our Submission

Read our full submission findings here

This submission is made on behalf of the Central Youth Advocacy Network, a youth-led initiative dedicated to amplifying the voices of young Australians, particularly those excluded from traditional pathways into decision making. As the generation that will live the longest with the consequences of today’s decisions, our voices are crucial. We welcome the opportunity to present our insights and recommendations to the Standing Committee on Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water on what we foresee to be negative and positive consequences of AI and to outline strategies to mitigate associated risks.

Young people stand at a critical intersection. We will bear the environmental toll of the rapid expansion of Artificial Intelligence, including resource consumption, emissions and pollution driven by large scale data centres which will threaten the liveability of our communities. Yet we will also benefit from a tool that will make access to education, information, community, and support more equal regardless of region, and resources.

Our submission is directly informed by members of our network, and the young people we represent across our communities. The changes we call for do not simply advocate for our present, they seek to safeguard future generations and ensure that AI can become environmentally sustainable, ethically grounded and fundamentally protective of young people who are the most vulnerable to the negative impacts of Artificial Intelligence.

Preamble

Focus Areas

Our focus areas were determined by our core working group and then developed through consultations with young participants from across Australia.

(01)

Environmental Impacts

Our research found widespread anxiety around the rapid expansion of AI, with young people seeing it as an extisential threat to their future. Deep-seeded eco-anxiety was largely linked to concerns around the excessive use of clean water, fossil fuel reliance, noise pollution and land degradation.

They also believed that major technology companies would not be held accountable by the Australian Government when safeguards are breached.

Water usage in regions that already experience water scarcity is particularly concerning. Data centres are incredibly water intensive, so their introduction in semi-arid and arid regions such the Northern Territory is particularly concerning as this will increase water scarcity. There are communities in the Northern Territory that lack running water or safe drinking water, a basic human right. However, the Northern Territory Government plans to build multiple, water intensive data centres. This will only exacerbate these issues, causing significant fear for young residents consulted.

(02)

Mental Health

Our research revealed that young people were worried about individuals forming surrogate relationships with AI software. Participants thought that as AI develops, human connection may be substituted for pseudo-social or even pseudo-romantic relationships with chatbots. This reliance increases the risk of isolation from support networks, family and community.

Participants also thought routine reliance on chatbots that are designed to validate users is problematic as it impairs critical thinking, problem solving and social development. "It is affecting their ability to make independent decisions, learn about safety around other people, learn social skills and cues and how to communicate effectively."

Participants and researchers concurred that AI is tied to escalating mental health risks in young people. Consultations found that young people report that the accessibility and 24/7 nature of AI chatbots negatively skews their world view as they increasingly rely on it in the face of complex mental health needs.

(03)

Intellectual Property and Worker's Rights

The threat to information sovereignty, worker’s rights, and intellectual property posed by AI were frequently raised by consultations participants. In Australia, there are laws to protect intellectual property, and to ensure that the work of researchers, authors and artists cannot be exploited and stolen. However, due to the global nature of Artificial Intelligence, software companies will not adhere to these laws, putting intellectual property at major risk.

Where companies adopt artificial intelligence to replace ‘lower skill’ workers, job insecurities increase, making it more difficult for younger members of the population to find employment and financial security. Young people already face high rates of job insecurity, particularly in entry level positions, making this particularly concerning.

Young people also fear the broader economic impacts at the National and International level. Participants raised fears that mass layoffs could ultimately lead to what they described as an economic situation akin to the ‘Great Depression’, where a mass reduction or loss of income would lead to a long-term global recession.

(04)

Privacy and Data Collection

One of the issues universally raised by participants was the threat posed by Artificial Intelligence to privacy. Young people described feeling scared “that it might use the given information against [them] one day”. They have noticed that the data-hungry nature of narrow artificial intelligence models puts them at risk of having their personal information leaked to third parties or published online.

They are worried that the collection of data will allow ‘scams’ to become more realistic and prolific. Artificial intelligence collects and stores vast amounts of data on users-including on their family, their voice, and the way they speak-which allows scams to sound more accurate, and thus more dangerous.

Young people raised concerns about deepfakes built off information stored by Artificial Intelligence systems. One young person described how AI “could access their personal information such as passwords and can now make flawless images and videos looking near real” due to the storage of data.

(05)

Child Safety and Sexual Abuse

One of the most urgent and distressing issues raised by participants is the use of image generation software to create child sexual abuse material. Our participants were incredibly anxious about how accessible image generation is. Young people recognise the significant risk that comes with the development of image generation and how this can be used to non-consentually generate images using online photos.

The risk of pervasive peer harassment and extortion is another issue frequently raised by young people. AI image manipulation has become a significant issue in school environments in Australia where images can be used to generate deepfakes, allowing students to harass, bully and blackmail peers or educators.

Young people link Artificial Intelligence to high rates of profound mental trauma and fear. The threat of image manipulation causes many young people to withdraw from digital and social spaces due to an erosion of trust and the risk of psychological harm due to image manipulation. “We live in fear that one photograph will become extortion material or blackmail.”

(06)

Investment in positive uses of AI

For many young people, Artificial Intelligence has evolved to become part of everyday life as a student, researcher and in the workforce. This relationship is often overlooked by decision makers who may fail to understand the relationship between young people and developments in technology. This generation has grown up alongside Artificial Intelligence, and has used it in their schooling, throughout university and into their professional jobs before this technology was properly integrated into curriculums. We wanted to understand how artificial intelligence benefits young people so that these positive impacts can be expanded.

We found that Artificial Intelligence provides important educational support in underfunded or inaccessible schools. Many educational institutions face significant staffing shortages so for some young people, the only way they can access personalised support is through AI models.

Many students in research and medical fields see it as important in new developments in their respective fields. Related is its ability increase efficiency in specific sectors such as software or research.