Guide to AI

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The Young Women's Movement Guide to AI

What is AI?

Language guide, statistics and myth busting

AI and gender

Body image, Intimate Image Abuse, and harm

Help and resources

Guides, signposting and more

About the project

Young Women Lead AI arose from the recommendations of the Young Women Lead 2024 cohort about Artificial Intelligence in relation to democratic wellbeing. The group expressed a desire for young women to be equipped with the skills and knowledge to develop a critical understanding of AI in order to help shape it.

In 2025, the next Young Women Lead cohort created this online guidance and resource library. We began this project by completing the recently relaunched free AI literacy course ‘Living with AI’, created by our partners: the Scottish AI Alliance. They then came together to examine AI and the ways in which it impacts young women, placing a crucial focus on the issues of ‘Sexual Digital Forgeries’, Intimate Image Abuse, and Body Image.

As a result, the young women involved in this project have created this online guidance and resource library for anyone who wants to be more informed about AI and its gendered impacts, but particularly for young women. Across the guide you will find key definitions, useful conversation starters, testimonials from the young women involved and more.

The guide is split into three sections: What is AI?, AI and gender, and Help and resources. The guide takes the form of text, imagery and videos alongside interactive elements. We hope that this is helpful and can guide you to be more confident and knowledgeable about this sometimes mystifying subject. 

Our demands

Three key groups emerged as the focus for our demands: the Government, the technology industry, and the general public.

Read our demands

Acknowledgments

Our ‘Guide to AI’ would not have been made possible were it not for the hard work and determination of this year’s Young Women Lead cohort. Each member showed strength at working collaboratively, leading with kindness and compassion in order to co-design rich and thorough content for this guide. Thank you for your ongoing commitment to making Scotland a safer place for young women and girls. 

Aditi Ranganathan, Alba McVicar Reyes, Alice Banks, Annie Johnston, Beth Davidson, Bethany Spain, Charlotte Hill, Cian Gullen, Dibya Dahal, Ellis Paterson, Georgia Harding, Georgie Cross, Göksu Gündüzalp, Ife Odemosu, Lauren Caskie, Robyn Barclay, Sophia Blum, Sophie Bell, Stasha Smith, Stella McLean, Stella Molinelli.

Thank you to our partners on this project, The Scottish AI Alliance . Particularly to Steph Wright, for making it happen, and to Dawn McAra-Hunter who worked closely with the cohort as the project took shape.

Our Young Women Lead AI group are diverse and smiling young women with crafts in front of them.

Important thanks also go to a number of others:

  • To Clare McGlynn, our expert guest, for visiting the Young Women Leaders and imparting key insight into the legal landscape of Intimate Image Abuse.
  • To Katrina Lambert for providing a strong foundation to the project with her fantastic literature review.
  • To the Scottish Parliament and SP Visitor Services teams for welcoming us into their space.
  • To Zara McIntosh for her keenness and commitment to working together to educate more young women on AI.
  • To Laura Bates for her inspiring message to the Young Women Leaders and to Lighthouse Books in Edinburgh for gifting us a copy of The New Age of Sexism to dedicate to the cohort.

Finally, thank you to our funders for making Young Women Lead AI a possibility: Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust and Inspiring Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Government’s Equality and Human Rights Fund.  

This image shows a hand holding up Laura Bates' book entitled 'The New Age of Sexism' in front of a grey building. Beside is another photo showing a written dedication from Laura Bates in the page of a book. The message reads "For the Young Women Lead AI cohort, you are amazing, you are not alone. With love, Laura Bates.'

Testimonials from participants 

  • YWL AI has been a great opportunity to learn about the impacts of AI on young women and to meet lots of interesting and intelligent women. I hope there will be real change in society and online, to protect the safety of women from the harms of this exciting technology.

    – Sophia Blum

  • It is a refreshing idea, putting young women as protagonists in a project directed towards other young women about a contemporary issue that concerns everyone. It feels like we are change makers.

    – Stella Molinelli

  • Participating in this project and completing ‘Living with AI’ has made me feel a lot less anxious about our future. I used to think that the problem was too huge, that it was too late to turn back. But seeing how hard our cohort has worked to improve things for affected Scottish folk everywhere gives me so much hope. There is still time!

    – Alba McVicar Reyes

  • I’ve been so angry and concerned [about AI], so it’s great to find likeminded people who are invested in social issues.

    – Göksu Gündüzalp

  • Having had a collaborative space with young women to discuss things we are all interested in, I feel like I’ve refreshed my rage, and I’m energised to become politically involved and active again.

    – Georgie Cross

  • It’s been great to meet so many likeminded and passionate young women. I feel inspired and motivated about the future of positive changes – both in the world of AI and society as a whole. For the future YWL cohort: have fun! There is so much out there and I hope what we have created is a useful starting point!

    – Georgia Harding

  • Being part of YWL AI has been both empowering and eye-opening. I’ve learned how deeply AI can affect young women’s lives, but also how much power we have to push for safer, fairer technologies. Working alongside such passionate, brilliant women has reminded me that change starts with collective action and that our voices really can make a difference!

    – Bethany Spain

  • YWL AI has been a great opportunity to learn about the impacts of AI on young women and to meet lots of interesting and intelligent women. I hope there will be real change in society and online, to protect the safety of women from the harms of this exciting technology.

    – Sophia Blum

  • It is a refreshing idea, putting young women as protagonists in a project directed towards other young women about a contemporary issue that concerns everyone. It feels like we are change makers.

    – Stella Molinelli

  • Participating in this project and completing ‘Living with AI’ has made me feel a lot less anxious about our future. I used to think that the problem was too huge, that it was too late to turn back. But seeing how hard our cohort has worked to improve things for affected Scottish folk everywhere gives me so much hope. There is still time!

    – Alba McVicar Reyes

  • I’ve been so angry and concerned [about AI], so it’s great to find likeminded people who are invested in social issues.

    – Göksu Gündüzalp

  • YWL AI has been a great opportunity to learn about the impacts of AI on young women and to meet lots of interesting and intelligent women. I hope there will be real change in society and online, to protect the safety of women from the harms of this exciting technology.

    – Sophia Blum

  • It is a refreshing idea, putting young women as protagonists in a project directed towards other young women about a contemporary issue that concerns everyone. It feels like we are change makers.

    – Stella Molinelli

  • Participating in this project and completing ‘Living with AI’ has made me feel a lot less anxious about our future. I used to think that the problem was too huge, that it was too late to turn back. But seeing how hard our cohort has worked to improve things for affected Scottish folk everywhere gives me so much hope. There is still time!

    – Alba McVicar Reyes

  • I’ve been so angry and concerned [about AI], so it’s great to find likeminded people who are invested in social issues.

    – Göksu Gündüzalp

  • Having had a collaborative space with young women to discuss things we are all interested in, I feel like I’ve refreshed my rage, and I’m energised to become politically involved and active again.

    – Georgie Cross

  • It’s been great to meet so many likeminded and passionate young women. I feel inspired and motivated about the future of positive changes – both in the world of AI and society as a whole. For the future YWL cohort: have fun! There is so much out there and I hope what we have created is a useful starting point!

    – Georgia Harding

  • Being part of YWL AI has been both empowering and eye-opening. I’ve learned how deeply AI can affect young women’s lives, but also how much power we have to push for safer, fairer technologies. Working alongside such passionate, brilliant women has reminded me that change starts with collective action and that our voices really can make a difference!

    – Bethany Spain

  • YWL AI has been a great opportunity to learn about the impacts of AI on young women and to meet lots of interesting and intelligent women. I hope there will be real change in society and online, to protect the safety of women from the harms of this exciting technology.

    – Sophia Blum

  • It is a refreshing idea, putting young women as protagonists in a project directed towards other young women about a contemporary issue that concerns everyone. It feels like we are change makers.

    – Stella Molinelli

  • Participating in this project and completing ‘Living with AI’ has made me feel a lot less anxious about our future. I used to think that the problem was too huge, that it was too late to turn back. But seeing how hard our cohort has worked to improve things for affected Scottish folk everywhere gives me so much hope. There is still time!

    – Alba McVicar Reyes

  • I’ve been so angry and concerned [about AI], so it’s great to find likeminded people who are invested in social issues.

    – Göksu Gündüzalp

Listen to our podcast with CLD Talks

Read articles about AI

  • AI facial filters are ruining our perception of beauty

    Zara McIntosh

    2016 marked a pivotal year in the introduction of facial filters. Look at any selfie from this period, particularly from a certain few Kardashian sisters, and you’ll more than likely see Snapchat’s renowned dog filter. Somehow, we all collectively bypassed the obscenity that was dog ears, nose, and tongue in every selfie that we took because the dog filter blurred our skin and made our eyes ever so slightly larger. It was our first taste of filter enhancements, and we have only gotten hungrier.

    • AI
    • Young Women Lead
    • Article

  • Understanding AI Harm: How My Learning Will Help Support Young Women

    Photo of Lauren, who is a Community and Family worker. She has long brown hair and is smiling at the camera. Lauren is wearing a graduation gown, and there is a crowd of people behind her.

    Since the start of the year I’ve been working with The Young Women’s Movement on their ‘Young Women Lead – AI’ project. Together we have been learning about AI from The Scottish AI Alliance and deepening our understanding on the risks AI could pose for young women and girls.

    • AI
    • Violence prevention
    • Young Women Lead
    • Article

  • Our rights in the digital world

    Group photo of the Young Women Lead cohort in Edinburgh at the Arthur Conan Doyle Centre

    In this article, Alba & Annie (participants of Young Women Lead AI) discuss the programme and the creation of their Guide to AI.

    • AI
    • Campaigning
    • Rights
    • Young Women Lead
    • Article

  • Challenges during the age of AI: Deepfake abuse on women

    Maria Onatt, biologist and ecologist smiling at camera.

    The age of AI creates many new opportunities, but in the wrong hands it can create enormous damage and contribute to a new form of gender-based violence. One of the most horrifying and ignored consequences of AI is deepfake abuse, and women and girls are the group disproportionally affected by it. 

    • AI
    • Rights
    • Violence prevention
    • Article


Hear from staff involved in the programme

“Collaborating with the Young Women Lead cohort to enhance their AI literacy with Living with AI has been an eye-opening and rewarding experience. Young women and non-binary people face specific challenges around AI development and adoption, and it was so insightful to work with a dynamic cohort who had a clear sense of the impact of AI on their lives. Bringing Living with AI to Young Women Lead demonstrated the importance of including the communities most affected by AI use into the conversation, and how a meaningful introduction to trustworthy, ethical and inclusive AI can empower young women and non-binary people to shape the ways we interact with technology in our society.”

Dawn, Programme Manager at Scottish AI Alliance

SARAH JOHNSTON Collective Voice & Action Worker, smiling at camera.

“I am grateful to the Scottish AI Alliance for the role they have played in supporting this year’s Young Women Lead cohort. The ‘Living with AI’ learning provided each participant, as well as staff from our Programmes team, with a foundational understanding of Artificial Intelligence and its place in our society. Throughout the programme the young women were encouraged to think critically about AI, its representations, and its potential strengths and weaknesses. This collaboration has enabled the cohort to feel more empowered about AI as a whole and has acted as a catalyst for their desire to improve other young women’s experiences and knowledge through the creation of this Guide to AI.”

Sarah, Programmes Coordinator at The Young Women’s Movement

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Find more in The Young Women’s Movement Guide to AI

What is AI?

Glossary
Myth busting
Examples and statistics

AI and gender

Body image
‘Deepfakes’ and Intimate Image Abuse
Intersectionality and AI
The cycle of harm

Help and resources

Our demands
Knowing your rights
Conversation starters
Further resources

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