Using an award-winning AI tool to inspire young people's critical thinking
How the interactive series FAIR ENOUGH led to better outcomes for students and educators
Last summer, a group of teenagers in a socio-economically vulnerable area of France examined how artificial intelligence (AI) affects their lives. They developed a research question, “Can artificial intelligence replace our friends?”, and ultimately created a podcast that explored the ethical issues and opportunities of this new technology.
Noor, an AI-generated character, from the FAIR ENOUGH interactive SMS series
The outcomes demonstrated that, with the right tools and approaches, students facing significant challenges can be supported to think critically about AI, structure arguments and express themselves across a range of topics.
Collaborating to enhance learning experiences
The research and podcast centred on a collaboration between the Airbus Foundation and Lecture Jeunesse, a French NGO dedicated to encouraging teenagers to read and write. As Amélie Vinçon, Development Manager at Lecture Jeunesse, puts it, “We like to focus on what teenagers are interested in. We propose projects that connect them with their cultural practice, make them feel proud, comfortable and realise that reading isn’t only for the good students – it’s for everyone.”
The project in question was part of Lecture Jeunesse’s Cortex programme at the Jacques Duclos Secondary School in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Over 12 sessions, a group of 13- and 14-year-olds researched, developed, produced and evaluated a podcast on a topic they chose – in their case, whether AI could ever replace their human friends. To help the students, their teachers incorporated FAIR ENOUGH, an award-winning educational resource from the Airbus Foundation designed to help young people better understand the role of AI in today’s world.
FAIR ENOUGH and the power of relatable teaching tools
Informed by Airbus AI experts and designed in consultation with teachers and teenagers, FAIR ENOUGH is well-suited to initiatives like the Cortex programme. It is an online interactive series of eight stories about AI told through text messages shared between four teenage characters: Noor, Mila, Yu and Tiago. The stories cover topics such as deepfakes, health, sport, jobs, education, creativity, emotional machines and driverless vehicles. The series is freely available as a web-based application in five languages with no download or registration required.
Examples of the FAIR ENOUGH interactive series on a smartphone
Rather than delivering top-down lessons, FAIR ENOUGH meets young people on their terms. With a recognisable text-message format, relatable characters and a game-like interactive structure, it invites users to make choices, and form and share their opinions. For the students at Jacques Duclos, the series proved transformative.
By engaging with the characters’ stories and interactions, the students revealed their capacity for critical thinking about technology and society. Their reading, writing and oral expression skills improved, and the teachers benefited too. As Amélie describes, "FAIR ENOUGH provided the link for these students to reconnect with teachers at the same level of knowledge.”
Building bridges between educators and vulnerable students
Jacques Duclos is designated ‘REP+’, meaning it is a school in a severely disadvantaged area where many students have learning challenges. Increasingly a part of young people’s studies, communications, entertainment and creativity, AI has widened the gap between students’ habits and behaviours and teachers’ understanding of them. But teachers lack the resources to confidently incorporate AI into classroom teaching.
FAIR ENOUGH provides a solution. Channelling expert knowledge from within Airbus, especially on AI and disinformation, it builds bridges between educators and students who are typically excluded from grade attainment and classroom discussions.
Alongside supporting students, these horizontal learning patterns provide educators with transferable skills. In the Cortex programme, as well as gaining a deeper understanding of their students’ interests and capabilities, teachers expanded their professional development, equipping themselves to identify and raise awareness of current AI-related challenges among young people.
Completing the learning triangle, the Airbus Foundation gained insights from the Cortex project too. With a deeper understanding of young people’s needs, we could apply learnings as we grow our open-access digital resources for 8-18-year-olds, sparking new and important conversations between educators and students.
Multi-way partnerships for better outcomes
Europe-wide recognition for FAIR ENOUGH
The Ecsite ‘Mariano Gago Excellence in Science Engagement Award’ rewards creative, bold, impactful thinking that engages the public and helps to meet today’s global challenges. In 2025, it was awarded to FAIR ENOUGH, recognising its innovative approach and shareability across the scientific engagement community.