With AI now part of our everyday lives, we need to ensure young people have the knowledge and tools they need to thrive and grow. Research published by Bitesize Teen Summit and Radio 5 Live highlighted the challenges young people face about AI, with a quarter (24%) struggling to find out where to learn about AI and how best to use it. The world of work was also a concern. A third were considering how AI might impact future jobs as well as creativity and the spread of misinformation. 

Insights like this prompted BBC Bitesize to launch the Guide to AI to support young people and provide useful resources for teachers to use in the classroom. The guide provides a collection of films to help teenagers navigate AI and increase their critical thinking. Each film tackles a topic which we know concerns young people such as AI and their social feed, its impact on the environment, as well as more practical advice on help on revision or creating images.

Young people are featured in each film trying out different AI tools. They’re joined by Newsround’s Emma-Louise Amanshia and S4C’s Gareth Elis who set them challenges and talk to them about AI. We hear directly from the young people about what surprised them, what might be useful and what might need to be avoided. 

Future jobs

With the employment landscape changing at pace, we wanted to highlight some of the positive and innovative ways AI is already being used in the world of work. The guide also includes five films looking at how AI is changing fashion, gaming, music, conservation and sport through the lens of young people early in their careers.

Given their concerns, reassuring young people about future jobs is important. We see how a designer is bringing digital creativity to fashion and hear how a music producer is treating algorithms as bandmates. We witness how AI is enabling a developer to create gaming adventures with just a few prompts. Students can also see how biologists from the University of St Andrews have embraced AI to identify dolphin species. And there’s a film showing how it’s being used in football to help guide teams to spot and nurture future players.

Critical thinking and media literacy

Young people need to be equipped with the tools to cast a critical eye on AI as the recent Curriculum and Assessment Review acknowledged. 

Hearing directly from teachers is important for BBC Bitesize. I was struck by what Amy, an English teacher, based at a Manchester secondary school, explained recently: “They’ll laugh at obviously fake AI videos and say, ‘That’s so AI’, but underneath that is a belief that they can’t be fooled. If I tell them something isn’t real, they argue back. They think teachers don’t understand technology, and they automatically trust what they see online more than what we tell them.”

Against this backdrop, BBC Bitesize has launched Solve the Story. It’s a six-part media literacy series designed to equip students and teachers with practical tools to tackle misinformation and disinformation. Available now, the series is part of our Other Side of the Story initiative, and helps young people to question what they see online, verify sources, spot fakes and understand how misleading narratives spread. 

In Solve the Story, all three characters must apply media literacy skills to uncover the truth, by analysing sources, questioning assumptions, identifying deepfakes, challenging viral claims and spotting bias. Each episode is paired with a ‘how-to’ guide offering clear, practical steps for teachers and resources for classroom use.

I hope that Amy, and all the teachers across the country, will find these resources useful. We’re always interested in feedback, so please get in touch via email or meet us at Bett UK 2026 and tell us what you think.

Cerys Griffths is Head of BBC Bitesize. To find out more about the BBC Bitesize Guide to AI, visit: www.bbc.co.uk/bitesizeguidetoai

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