Young people polled on AI and deliver recommendations to government

A citizen’s assembly on artificial intelligence (AI) has solicited the views of young people on the topic, producing a report that outlined 17 policy recommendations to the federal government. The study, called Gen(Z)AI, was the culmination of eight months of work by the Dialogue on Technology (DoT) project. DoT is co-sponsored by Simon Fraser University in Vancouver and Montreal’s McGill University, with financial support from Quebec AI institute Mila. The project selected 100 people between the ages of 17 and 23 and asked them to address issues revolving around AI. There were 25 participants in each of Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax, most of whom attend high schools and universities in the four centres. “This is a generation that’s particularly affected by this technology and lives in it in a way the rest of us just simply do not,” Fergus Linley-Mota, DoT founder, told The Wire Report. “They’re also chronically underconsulted in conversations about technology policy.” Linley-Mota, who is at Simon Fraser, and his co-lead Helen A. Hayes, a Ph.D. candidate from McGill, gave their charges four topics to concentrate on: chatbots; AI information integrity; AI data privacy; and AI and age assurance. The 100 people met virtually on day one, took days two and three to work in person in each city, and convened virtually on day four. Chatbots, they concluded, lead to emotional dependency, social isolation, and cognitive offloading. There is a danger of students using AI to do their thinking for them, rather than researching material deeply. Information integrity led to discussions of polarization, misinformation and disinformation. Data privacy raised questions about how data is stored and used. Many participants said as younger teenagers, they had given up hope of having their data kept private. Linley-Mota said it is essential that decision-makers listen to young people, who are often the targets of things like social media age restrictions, but never consulted. “They’re invoked a lot but we actually rarely hear from them about what it is that they want,” he states. “So I think this is a really unique opportunity to do that.” On April 30, the two co-leads, along with about 40 young people who took part in the discussions, presented the report to an audience of MPs, senators and public servants. AI Minister Evan Solomon (Toronto Centre, Ont.) and Canadian Identity Minister Marc Miller (Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, Que.) were among the crowd. Linley-Mota found great enthusiasm for the survey. “It was a great sign that ministers Miller and Solomon were both there and they stayed behind and spoke with our youth participants for some time, which was really good,” he notes. The SFU researcher had a mixed reaction to the government’s AI strategy, announced Thursday. He was glad it acknowledged the trust problem and the risks young people face. But he found the program light on details and questioned the government’s desire to foster AI literacy. “I think it’s actually very out of sync with where the Canadian public is at,” Linley-Mota says. “So the strategy identifies a trust problem but it treats it like a literacy problem.” He reports on surveys done in British Columbia in 2024 and 2026. While AI literacy increased over the two years, trust in AI actually decreased, showing that literacy is not the problem. DoT is hoping to do more citizen assemblies as the months roll on, its founder remarked. The young people’s study was the first of its kind. ppark@thewirereport.ca

Young people polled on AI and deliver recommendations to government

Regulatory |
By Paul Park
|June 5, 2026

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us

Young people polled on AI and deliver recommendations to government

Regulatory | By Paul Park |June 5, 2026

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

ISED won’t raise high-speed internet standard, says 50/10 Mbps sufficient for Canadian households

CRTC proposes indefinite licence terms for all radio stations — except CBC broadcasters

Fraser hints deepfake regulations could extend into privacy law as opposition MPs say AI strategy lacks protection details

Related Stories

Fraser hints deepfake regulations could extend into privacy law as opposition MPs say AI strategy lacks protection details

‘Stealing is not innovation’: SOCAN CEO calls on feds to stand against text and data mining exemption for AI developers

Solomon teases new labour advisory group that will inform AI policy

Telecom union calls on government to protect Canadian jobs by regulating AI use in industry

Reuse & Permissions

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us

Regulatory |
By Paul Park
|June 5, 2026