This workshop will bring together interdisciplinary researchers, practitioners, and advocates to explore how youth-centered expertise can inform the design, deployment, and governance of GenAI systems while ensuring the online safety of youth. HCI and CSCW scholars have explored participatory and ethical dimensions of AI, but systematically integrating youth online safety experts, advocates, and young users themselves throughout the AI development lifecycle remains a critical gap. This integration is particularly imperative for Generative AI (GenAI), which amplifies risks such as misinformation, deepfakes, and manipulative personalization challenges that are difficult to anticipate or govern due to GenAI’s reliance on large-scale, general-purpose training data and its often unpredictable outputs.
To identify strategies for operationalizing multistakeholder collaboration and developing participatory tools, frameworks, and methods that promote safer, more inclusive AI,we will disscussions with a virtual pre-workshop session approximately two weeks before the conference, introducing one of the workshop’s core themes. Followed by an in-person conference workshop at CSCW to address the remaining themes. While GenAI is the primary focus, we welcome broader discussions on AI and youth online safety.
Theme 1: Defining Expertise and Participation in AI Development for Youth Online Safety.
This theme focuses on critically examining how expertise is defined and valued in GenAI development, particularly when it comes to designing for youth safety. Guiding questions include: 1) At which stage(s) of GenAI design, development, and deployment are youth safety experts currently involved? 2) How do institutional and disciplinary norms shape which forms of expertise are recognized or excluded? 3) What infrastructure is needed to support deeper integration of youth safety knowledge into GenAI teams? 4) What barriers prevent broader recognition of non-technical or experiential expertise in GenAI development?
Theme 2: Operationalizing Multistakeholder Collaboration in GenAI for Youth Online Safety.
This theme explores what it takes to build equitable, long-term partnerships between AI practitioners, youth safety experts, researchers, policymakers, and youth themselves. Guiding questions include: 1) What models currently exist for sustained, cross-sector collaboration on AI systems that impact youth? 2) How can we design workflows, incentives, or shared infrastructures that support long-term engagement across disciplines? 3) How do we move beyond one-off consultations toward sustained and meaningful engagement? 4) What kinds of organizational, legal, or funding mechanisms are needed to support this collaboration? 5) How do we ensure that participatory processes include not only youth and safety advocates, but also underrepresented communities and marginalized identities?
Theme 3: Collectively Defining Future Research Directions in Developing Tools and Methods to Support Participation in GenAI.
This theme invites participants to collectively envision a future research agenda that addresses this need. Guiding questions include: 1) What are appropriate methods and degrees of participation across different phases of the GenAI lifecycle? 2) How can existing frameworks be operationalized to support youth-centered participation? 3) What tools and metrics are needed to evaluate the quality and impact of participation in GenAI?
We will invite researchers, practitioners, policymakers, community partners, and other stakeholders with an interest or experience in youth online safety and applying participatory methods and approaches in designing, deploying, and evaluating societal impacts of GenAI technologies. This one-day workshop aims to create a collaborative environment where participants can engage in interdisciplinary discussions, share their experiences, and contribute to the development of strategies and frameworks for harnessing the potential of GenAI in youth online safety.
Interested participants are asked to submit a brief statement of interest, demonstrating their alignment with the workshop goals. Submissions can take one of the following formats:
A short bio with a statement of motivation/interest for attending the workshop.
A position paper contributing to one or more themes described in this proposal.
A case study discussing ongoing or completed work involving participatory approaches to GenAI or youth safety in AI systems.
We encourage submissions from individuals of diverse backgrounds, expertise, and experiences. Since workshop submissions are non-archival, we encourage participants to send their work in progress that has been submitted in previous venues. Submissions should be in PDF format and should include author names. Each submission will undergo review by two organizers, with acceptance based on the quality, relevance to workshop themes, and the potential for meaningful contributions to the workshop discussions and goals.
Suggested Formatting:
Page limit: 2-4 pages (including figures) References are not counted towards the page limit .
Template: ACM Master Article Submission Templates, single column
Please fill out this form: https://forms.gle/DDyU4trP2KkmSfx19
Submission deadline: July 18, 2025
Notification of workshop acceptance: August 1, 2025
Virtual Pre-workshop Event date: October 4, 2025 (Via Zoom)
Workshop date: October 19, 2025
Please contact organizers Ozioma Oguine at ooguine@nd.edu, Johanna Olesk at jolesk@nd.edu, or Karla Badillo-Urquiola at kbadillou@nd.edu.