On 4 August 2026, 41 students from China gathered at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris for a special Media and Information Literacy (MIL) Day, featuring MIL workshops, project presentations and the award ceremony of the 2026 UNESCO Youth Hackathon U18 China Edition.
The U18 China Edition was co-organized by UNESCO and Yugui, a Shanghai-based educational institution working on MIL and a member of UNESCO’s MIL Alliance. Young people under 18 in China were invited to rethink artificial intelligence through a MIL perspective and explore how MIL can help them “Play Smart with AI”. The initiative attracted more than 1500 young participants from Shanghai and beyond, with 41 winners invited to UNESCO for this special event.
The Paris event introduced the winners of the initiative to key MIL issues in the age of AI, including algorithmic bias, AI-generated inaccuracies and personalized recommendations. It highlighted the importance of questioning AI-generated information and verifying it through reliable sources and multiple references.
As part of the Day, students also explored how AI could be designed to better serve children. The exercise encouraged them to move beyond asking what AI can do, and to consider what AI should do.
During the presentation and award ceremony, the students presented their award-winning projects, rooted in accuracy, rights, care, everyday life and cultural heritage.
Exploring challenges such as online fraud and emotional well-being, as well as themes including AI education and cultural heritage, the projects reflected young people’s perspectives on how technology can support people without replacing human judgement, relationships or cultural knowledge. They also demonstrated that young people are not only users of emerging technologies but can contribute to discussions about how these technologies should be designed and used.
After the discussion with UNESCO experts and teachers, I realized that using AI without limits can mislead us and create cognitive biases. Media and information literacy teaches us to set boundaries with AI, think critically about its responses, and distinguish AI-generated content from reality, rather than accepting it as fact.
Zhou Shuhui, Shanghai Quyang No 2 Secondary School
Zhou ShuhuiShanghai Quyang Secondary School
I used to think of AI simply as a convenient tool that could help us with many things. This time, I began to realize that no matter how advanced AI becomes, it can never replace face-to-face human interaction. As technology develops, we should also value human connection and never lose the importance of real-world communication.
Dai ShiyinShanghai Experimental School
