Critical Youth Engagement with Artificial Intelligence: The CYEAI Framework

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping education, innovation and governance, yet existing scholarship has largely examined AI literacy, Responsible AI and youth participation as separate fields of inquiry. This fragmentation provides a limited understanding of how young people become responsible participants in AI ecosystems, particularly within African contexts. This study addresses this gap by developing the Critical Youth Engagement with Artificial Intelligence (CYEAI) Framework, a contextually grounded socio-technical framework explaining meaningful youth engagement with AI. Guided by an interpretivist paradigm, the study employed a qualitative design involving a six-hour multi-stakeholder workshop with 24 participants in Ghana, including students, university lecturers, AI practitioners, entrepreneurs, policymakers and a government representative. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis and inductive theory building. The findings generated three interrelated empirical propositions: Critical AI Literacy as reflective engagement, African Data Sovereignty through representative knowledge systems, and Youth Agency as the mechanism translating AI capability into responsible innovation. These propositions informed the development of the CYEAI Framework, which demonstrates how the interaction of these dimensions within enabling educational and governance ecosystems produces Responsible AI Participation. The study advances AI literacy, Responsible AI and youth studies by integrating these previously disconnected domains into a unified explanatory framework. The CYEAI Framework offers a theoretical foundation for future research and practical guidance for educators, policymakers and AI practitioners seeking to foster inclusive, ethical and human-centred AI development across Africa and other Global South contexts.