Euronews spotlights youth fear of AI at Budapest safety forum

The Budapest conference coverage captures a less quantified but crucial dimension of the AI race: how younger generations emotionally process tools that adults are racing to deploy. Experts describing teenagers as fearful that they have “no prospects” in a world of automation is a counterpoint to the usual narrative that digital natives will simply adapt. If schools and families react mainly with bans or avoidance, rather than guided use, we could end up with a cohort that sees AI as something done to them, not with them.

From an AGI perspective, legitimacy and trust matter. Frontier labs and policymakers can talk about alignment, preparedness frameworks and safety committees, but if students feel disempowered and anxious, they are less likely to engage with the field, critique it from the inside, or build tools that reflect their values. That, in turn, risks widening the gap between those designing increasingly agentic systems and those living under them. The Budapest event is a reminder that “AI literacy” is not just prompt engineering classes; it is also about helping minors form a realistic, agency-preserving view of what AI can and cannot do.

In competitive terms, jurisdictions that invest early in child-centric AI education and digital wellbeing could see long-term dividends in talent, public support and smoother adoption of advanced systems, while those that ignore these signals may face backlash and heavier-handed restrictions later.