Abstract: The Participatory AI Research and Practice Symposium (PAIRS) is an annual event that brings together researchers and practitioners to share work on putting public voice at the center of AI development, governance and response. At the second edition of PAIRS which was held as an unofficial fringe event of the India AI Impact Summit 2026, Citizen Digital Foundation presented a poster ‘Friend, Foe or Function: Negotiating the Domestication of Generative AI among Indian Youth‘ which examines how first-generation users are adopting generative AI through thematic analysis of a moderated group discussion. It contributes to participatory AI discourse by focusing on user mental models, lived experiences and everyday practices of engagement over mere adoption metrics. In doing so, it examines the negotiations in early stages of GenAI domestication, including the paradox of high use alongside low trust, the role of AI as a social actor, and practices of participatory refusal. Read more here.
Poster – Friend, Foe or Function © 2026 by Citizen Digital Foundation is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
