Children and young people remain an afterthought in AI governance. A new DTH-Lab publication sets out how to put them at the centre.
Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping health systems. AI-enabled technologies are increasingly being used across clinical decision-making, diagnostics, health information and mental health support, creating opportunities to expand access, strengthen health systems and improve health outcomes. Yet children and young people remain an afterthought in most AI governance and health policy instruments.
DTH-Lab’s recent publication, Shaping AI governance for young people: Perspectives on health, policy and regulation, brought together four researchers to examine different dimensions of this challenge: child-centred ethics in AI-enabled healthcare, emerging risks and vulnerabilities for adolescent health and well-being, gaps in AI policy and opportunities for more inclusive governance, and the strengths and limitations of self, state and hybrid governance approaches.
AI governance has developed rapidly over the past decade, with governments, international organizations and industry establishing frameworks around principles including fairness, transparency, privacy, accountability and safety. By mid-2025, nearly 70 jurisdictions were reported to have adopted some level of AI strategies or policies.
However, ethical principles are not consistently translating into practical and enforceable protections. This gap is particularly visible in healthcare. A WHO survey across its European Region found that only four of fifty responding countries reported having a national health-specific AI strategy. Only three had introduced legal requirements for generative AI systems in healthcare, while four had developed liability standards for AI in health.
Young people require an additional layer of governance. Children and adolescents have distinct developmental needs and rights, yet children’s rights are inconsistently integrated into AI governance. Existing approaches often fail to adequately account for developmental differences, evolving autonomy and consent, mental health, data protection and the ways young people interact with AI-enabled technologies.
Young people’s perspectives are largely missing from AI-health governance. This matters because AI is increasingly mediating young people’s social connection, emotional support and health information-seeking during a critical developmental stage. Emerging risks include harmful or misleading information, overreliance on AI systems, parasocial relationship bonding, privacy and data protection concerns, and biases arising from unrepresentative datasets. At the same time, governance frameworks often treat young people as a future workforce to be prepared for an AI-enabled economy rather than as rights-holders whose health, development and well-being require protection today.
Young people therefore need to be recognized not only as users of AI-enabled systems, but as stakeholders in decisions shaping their design, deployment and governance.
Moving from principles to practice requires concrete governance mechanisms.
First, ethics and human rights principles, including the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, need to be operationalized throughout the lifecycle of AI-enabled health technologies. Youth impact assessments and child-rights duties can help identify potential consequences before harms become embedded in systems.
Second, meaningful youth participation must be institutionalized. Involving young people across the value chain of AI-enabled healthcare can help ensure technologies respond to real needs and reflect lived experiences.
Third, clear mechanisms for data protection, transparency, algorithmic auditing, and accountability must be central components of AI governance. Principles alone are insufficient without mechanisms for oversight and implementation.
Finally, neither state-led nor industry-led governance alone can address the complexity of emerging AI risks. Hybrid models of governance, combining state oversight, industry expertise and civil society participation, offer a promising path forward while allowing approaches to be adapted to different national and institutional contexts.
AI has significant potential to strengthen health systems and improve health outcomes, but these benefits are not inevitable. The governance choices made today will shape how AI affects young people over their lifetimes. Ensuring that AI contributes to safer, fairer, more equitable and inclusive health outcomes requires moving beyond high-level commitments towards enforceable safeguards, accountability and meaningful participation.
Young people cannot remain an afterthought in this process. Their health and well-being must be a core consideration in how AI for health is designed, deployed and governed.
Shaping AI governance for young people: Perspectives on health, policy and regulation was launched at the OECD Madrid conference on the responsible scale of AI in healthcare in May 2026 and was authored by Courtney B. Doagoo, Rebecca Raeside, Shajoe J. Lake, Erza Selmani, Aferdita Bytyqi, Ilona Kickbusch, Rohinton Medhora and Ananya Choyal