How Portugal's Youth Are Learning to Use AI Ethically—And Why It Matters for Families

When 40 teenagers gathered at a school in Lagoa last month for a two-day challenge, they weren't tasked with writing code or competing for venture capital. Instead, they were asked something harder: identify a problem in their community, then use artificial intelligence responsibly to solve it. Two winning concepts emerged—one tackling childhood nutrition amid economic hardship, the other confronting how classroom bias steers girls away from science. Both reflected something striking about Portugal's young people: they see algorithms not as abstract tech, but as civic tools.

Why This Matters

• Nine in ten Portuguese teenagers aged 9–17 have used generative AI in the past month, yet fewer than one in six have received formal training on algorithmic bias, data manipulation, or how to spot fake media—a knowledge gap that leaves them vulnerable to misinformation and passive consumption.

• The Algarve region will pilot €3.5M in education funding through 2027, targeting 8,000 students across 45 schools in economically fragile districts, combining digital literacy with dropout prevention under the "Algarve 2030" regional strategy.

• Design sprints like this one signal a shift in how Portugal approaches youth and technology: moving away from isolate "tech classes" toward embedding AI ethics and problem-solving across existing curricula, with mentorship from industry professionals and real-world project constraints.

Two Projects, One Vision

The event unfolded across 48 hours in late February at Nobel British International School in Lagoa, bringing together students from neighborhood public and private schools—no coding background required. The format abandoned the lecture hall entirely. Instead, mixed-age teams spent their time identifying genuine needs, sketching solutions with AI-friendly design tools, and pitching to a local jury drawn from businesses, schools, and civic leaders.

Team 5 AIT won with Ai Eat, a concept addressing nutritional inequality in Algarve households where single parents and shift workers juggle survival budgets against balanced eating. Their AI service would generate weekly meal plans, shopping lists, and cost breakdowns optimized for Portugal's grocery prices and cultural food norms—essentially translating the abstract promise of personalized technology into something practical for a specific economic reality.

The runner-up project, EqualMinds, tackled a subtler harm: how language and expectations in classrooms encode gender stereotypes that shrink girls' confidence in science and boys' engagement with arts. Their AI-enabled learning module would help students recognize these patterns through reflective scenarios, paired with a dashboard flagging teacher feedback that might reinforce biases. Both projects shared an orientation toward reducing friction rather than chasing disruption, and toward keeping humans—not algorithms—in charge of judgment.

The Scale of Adoption, the Absence of Guidance

Data released during Europe's Safer Internet Day in February painted an urgent picture. NOVA University Lisbon researchers found that 85% of Portuguese children and adolescents between 9 and 17 had used generative AI within the previous month—ten percentage points above the European average. The adoption trajectory suggests the figure has climbed further by now.

The use cases are familiar. Nearly half turn to AI for schoolwork—summarizing texts, drafting essays, solving problem sets. One quarter consult chatbots for emotional counsel or personal guidance. Yet this happens largely in isolation. Most Portuguese schools have not woven AI literacy into teaching practice. Teacher training remains sparse. The result is a two-tier landscape: students with educated parents and access to premium tools are deepening their learning; others risk drifting toward passive consumption, accepting AI outputs uncritically, and widening their knowledge gaps.

One number cuts sharply: fewer than 15% of Portuguese youth report receiving any instruction on algorithmic bias, data privacy, or detection of AI-generated misinformation. One in four worry about deepfakes and manipulation but lack vocabulary to articulate their concerns. That gap between awareness and understanding is where misinformation thrives.

A Network of Initiatives Taking Root

The Algarve sprint does not operate alone. Across Portugal, an interlocking ecosystem of programs has emerged in the past 18 months, each filling a different piece of the puzzle.

The Centro de Formação Francisco de Holanda launched a professional development course in January 2026 for educators titled "IA e Ética: desafios e oportunidades" (AI and Ethics: Challenges and Opportunities). Rather than creating standalone "AI classes"—something most Portuguese schools lack staffing to support—the course trains teachers to embed AI ethics and computational thinking into existing subjects, making it scalable and sustainable.

An Erasmus+-funded initiative called AI4YouthWork released open-access teaching materials in five languages during November 2025. These resources map trustworthy AI tools for youth workers and provide lesson plans on algorithmic bias and digital manipulation. The logic is practical: young people encounter AI in youth clubs, community centers, and informal gatherings, not just classrooms. Those spaces needed guidance too.

Junior Achievement Portugal is piloting a new curriculum combining AI fundamentals—conceptual, not just programming syntax—with startup thinking. The AI-ENTR4YOUTH program, backed by Intel and the European Commission, is running in ten European countries, with Portugal as one of the initial three. The theory is motivational: framing AI as both a problem-solving lever and an economic pathway helps young people see a future in technical work.

On the regional level, Portugal's central government designated 16 schools in the Algarve as priority intervention zones (known as TEIP schools—Territórios Educativos de Intervenção Prioritária). These institutions receive co-funding from European sources to combat endemic early dropout, a persistent challenge in economically marginal areas. The IN:FORMAT initiative, backed by Portugal Inovação Social, operates in 45 Algarve schools with a goal of reaching 8,000 students by mid-2027. Like the sprint, it emphasizes project-based learning, peer teaching, and real-world application rather than theoretical drill.

Early data from IN:FORMAT shows promise. By comparing attendance and academic performance before and after participation, researchers found modest but measurable improvements in engagement, particularly in TEIP schools where baseline motivation is lower. The effect is not dramatic—but it is real. Participating students report greater interest in technical fields, stronger problem-solving self-belief, and (in some cases) improved attendance.

Why the Algarve Was Chosen

The regional focus was deliberate. The event aligned with the International Women's Day 2026 Global Techathon, an annual campaign by Teens in AI—a UK-based nonprofit with reach across ten European countries—to increase female participation in science and technology fields. The Algarve cohort was 55% female, achieved through sustained outreach to schools historically underrepresenting girls in technical pathways.

Elena Sinel, founder and CEO of Teens in AI, anchored the regional strategy in equity language: young people trained to see AI as a tool for solving their own community's problems are more likely to stay engaged with education and pursue knowledge-work careers. The Algarve, with its tourism-dependent economy, seasonal employment volatility, and pockets of economic precarity, is precisely where that reframing carries outsized potential.

Logistical details matter too. The event was free to attend, with transport subsidies ensuring access for students whose families lacked resources. This signals an understanding that barriers to "tech opportunity" are often practical, not intellectual—a detail easily overlooked in policy circles but fundamental to equity.

European Context: Where Portugal Stands

Finland, Germany, and Spain lead continental efforts in systematic AI integration. Spain's 2025 strategic plan mandates "pro-social AI" training for all educators nationwide. Germany's federal states are piloting data literacy programs for primary-school children. Finland combines robust teacher development with school autonomy, allowing educators to experiment while maintaining pedagogical control. None of these approaches is flawless—each grapples with equity gaps, teacher fatigue, and the risk of embedding algorithmic bias into systems meant to improve learning—but all treat education policy and AI policy as inseparable.

Portugal's €3.5M allocation to the Algarve is meaningful as a signal but modest in per-capita terms compared to what Nordic or Baltic nations invest in digital infrastructure. Whether that investment expands beyond the Algarve's priority schools to the broader system remains uncertain. In early 2026, Portugal's Ministry of Education announced it would publish a national AI-in-education strategy later in the year, though specifics remain opaque. Officials cite mounting evidence of unequal access and haphazard adoption, plus the regulatory reality: the EU AI Act classifies education AI systems as high-risk, requiring transparency, non-discrimination safeguards, and independent audits. Portugal must build institutional capacity to meet those standards.

From Inspiration to Persistence

The Algarve sprint is framed not as a one-time media event but as a template for regional replication. Teens in AI ran similar events in Lisbon and Porto in 2024–2025; the Algarve edition represents geographic expansion. Capgemini Portugal, a multinational with significant operations in Portugal's services sector, serves as a platinum partner, lending both credibility and logistical capacity.

The central challenge is sustainability. Well-executed one-off sprints inspire but do not transform systems. Persistence requires mentors, educators, and organizations to move from episodic events toward embedded structures—recurrent programs, integrated curriculum, sustained mentorship relationships—that keep momentum alive for successive cohorts.

The winning projects from Lagoa suggest Portuguese youth are equipped to engage with AI thoughtfully and ethically, with an orientation toward social benefit. Whether the institutions surrounding them—schools, ministries, tech firms, regional governments—can accelerate implementation to reach hundreds of schools and thousands of students will determine whether Portugal's AI future is one of broad opportunity or advantage concentrated among the already-privileged. The February sprint planted seeds. The hard work of scaling now begins.