GENERATIVE A.I. AND OUR KIDS

2022 is the year so many things the ‘last pre-AI generation’ thought were important to put into kids' heads began to go away for future generations. It’s time to think about what’s next!

2022 WAS THE YEAR “GENERATIVE AI” WENT PUBLIC. Do you know what that is?  Have you tried it?  If you have already tried those programs, you know it’s time to start re-thinking our kids’ future!

If you haven’t, I strongly recommend you immediately call up the free versions of OpenAI’s  DALL-E and ChatGPT on your web browser. Prepare for many of your old ideas about learning to die.

What Do You Love to Do?

Do you enjoy painting or drawing—no more need to spend time learning how—just speak what you imagine and want to see. Do you like producing photographs? No more need to ever pick up a device, just describe the photo you want. Do you like to write—fiction or non-fiction? No more need to ever write a first draft (or possibly even a second.)  Do you enjoy communicating in a second language? Go right ahead—choose any one (s) in the world.

 “Generative AI” can do all of this—likely far better than you ever could!

Generative AI already exists today as public software programs. And—perhaps most important— we are just in year one of its long-term capabilities!

A human can still, of course, create their own style (I encourage this.) But when they do the AI can quickly learn to imitate it faithfully forever— in any domain. AI can build on and extend that style, in music, text or any kind of visuals. And even better, because it  is networked, you, and the AI, can collaborate with anyone who is on the network, anywhere—which soon be everyone.

Starting now, learning how to do (and teaching others to do) anything others have done before—write text, write music, do math, do a repetitive job (even that, say, of a doctor) is not worth spending time on except by working with AI software. All kids should now start using this from birth, because that will be what they will all be using in 25-50 years—perhaps much less—when they are in their productive prime. In more and more fields, unassisted unique creation remains for fewer and fewer.

FOR EXAMPLE:

Images

Here are some images AI can create from language prompts (we can now generate short video as well.) None of the following images were drawn or taken with a camera. All were generated from scratch by the software from some variation of the text prompt “empowered kids.”

Writing

I asked ChatGPT for “a sonnet about youth empowerment in the style of Shakespeare.” With absolutely no delay, it replied:

“Oh youthful hearts, so full of fire and might, With endless potential and endless grace,

The world is yours to conquer, yours to right, Your future's path is yours to chart and trace.

Do not let fear or doubt cloud your bright eyes, Do not let others' words or actions sway

Your dreams, your goals, the person you'll become, For in your hands lies power to make your way.

Embrace your youth, and all its energy, Use it to lift yourself, and those around,

To heights unseen, and greatness yet to be, And make the world a brighter, better ground.

So rise up, dear ones, and seize the day,

For youth is fleeting, but the future's here to stay.”

History

Next I typed: “What were the causes of the U.S. Civil War?” And got this:

The U.S. Civil War, which took place from 1861 to 1865, was a conflict between the Northern and Southern states of the United States. It was primarily caused by longstanding differences and issues related to slavery and states' rights.

Slavery had been a controversial and divisive issue in the United States for many years, and the country's founding fathers had struggled to find a compromise on the issue. In the years leading up to the Civil War, the Northern states, which had largely abandoned slavery, and the Southern states, which relied heavily on slave labor, became increasingly polarized on the issue. The Northern states saw slavery as a moral evil and wanted it to be abolished, while the Southern states saw it as a necessary part of their economy and way of life.

States' rights were also a major cause of the Civil War. The Southern states believed that they had the right to secede from the Union if they disagreed with federal policies, while the Northern states believed that the Union was a indivisible and that states did not have the right to secede. This disagreement led to the secession of several Southern states and the formation of the Confederate States of America, which ultimately led to the Civil War.

Other factors that contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War included economic differences between the North and South, cultural and social differences, and political differences between the two regions. The election of President Abraham Lincoln in 1860, who was opposed to the expansion of slavery, also played a role in the outbreak of the war.

Math

Then I asked: “What is a derivative in Calculus?” and got back

In calculus, a derivative is a way to describe how a function changes as its input changes. It measures the rate at which the output of a function changes with respect to the input. The derivative of a function f(x) at a point x is denoted as f'(x) and is defined as the limit of the difference quotient:

f'(x) = lim h->0 [f(x+h) - f(x)]/h

Intuitively, the derivative tells you how much the output of the function is changing at a given input value. For example, if you have a function that represents the position of an object as a function of time, the derivative of that function would represent the object's velocity at each point in time.

There are many ways to calculate the derivative of a function, and there are also many different types of derivatives, such as the first derivative, second derivative, and higher-order derivatives. Derivatives are a fundamental concept in calculus and are widely used in mathematics, physics, engineering, and other fields.

Language

Finally I asked CHAT GPT to: “Translate "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose" from French to English. It replied:

"Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose" translates to "The more things change, the more they stay the same" in English. This is a saying that suggests that despite the appearance of change, things remain the same or unchanged in the long run.

SO MUCH FOR HIGH SCHOOL!

So What’s Still Left?

Do you like to imagine?  Or to invent? Or to fix problems you see—large or small—in the world? Or help other humans or other creatures? THEN WE STILL NEED YOU!   As people become symbiotic with today’s and future AI tools, here’s what they will do

:

In their AI filled future, humans will, in symbiosis with their embedded AI parts,

REALIZE DREAMS, FIX PROBLEMS, and HELP OTHER PEOPLE.

What Do Today’s Young People Need to Do This?

Once we decide we should be preparing young people for the new time in which they live—and not just teaching them about the past we lived through—we can ask:

“What should they be doing during that preparation time?” 

The 20th century answer, of course, was “learning”—i.e., stuffing into their heads—whatever curriculum we set out for them. But that is now done and recorded. Sal Khan has given us “the museum of 20th century education” for free, online.

The 21st century answer, I believe, is

ACCOMPLISHING IN THE REAL WORLD.

Every young person, with some guidance, can do this at some level. Younger kids can fix family and neighborhood problems while starting to hone their dreams. Older kids can continue fixing problems and help each other and adults while starting to realize whatever personal dreams they have honed.  Have you ever met a kid without dreams? I haven’t. Now is the time they can make them happen.

To do this, we need to stop telling our kids what THEY CAN’T (or can’t yet) DO —just because we couldn’t do it at their age, or because we are afraid of their capabilities—and we need to start letting them know, from the very start, that THEY CAN. This is new and different because finally in the 21st century—their century— our young are newly empowered.   In this new context, “Empowered” means:

• We CAN   • We CHOOSE   • We ACCOMPLISH.

All three are required for 21st century empowerment. Today, more and more of our 21st century young people have the new attitudes and capabilities needed, and they are starting to know how to use them. They will use their power—in positive ways—if we just get out of their way and coach them a bit when they ask for it. 

Very soon all will be able to do this, globally, in networked teams. It will lead, I believe, to a far better world.

Today the “Beliefs Divide” Is Far More Important Than the Digital Divide

It is not the so-called “digital divide”, as some think, that stands in the way of their doing this. It is rather a newly emerged generational “beliefs divide.” All humans will soon have connected digital technology, at some basic level.. Every young person on the planet requires—and should fight for— a new “AORTA” —Always-On-Real-Time Access—to the web, and a device of some kind to access it with and interact with others.

As a global cohort, today’s young humans should make this their goal—everywhere. If they set themselves that goal, I believe they will quickly—with the help of sympathetic adults—achieve it.

But today, a huge BELIEFS DIVIDE that exists between the generations of the 20th and 21st century prevents this from happening.  Here are some examples of this extremely powerful divide:

Most Kids Are Not Aware That the Future Is Already Here, and Are Not Aware of the Power They Now Have

How do we change this? I suggest doing the following:

• We should START INTEGRATING, today, these new capabilities into the minds and bodies of our young people as they grow up. Many of the programs are already freely available and need only language to use. Why aren’t our youngest kids trying them out? That’s how they will learn to live in their new world. We should start our kids from the earliest ages, realizing their dreams, fixing problems they see and care about, and helping others in need, using these new capabilities.

• We should START INVENTING, in concert with young people, better activities than just “learning” for our 21st century progeny to grow up prepared for the world in which they will live. They need to be doing real-world projects and experiments—and this needs to include means for adapting to the massive disruptions that climate change will cause. 

• We should STOP TEACHING ABOUT THE PAST TO HERDS OF KIDS IN CLASSROOMS—i.e., doing what we had to do before AI became easily and freely available. We should CERTAINLY STOP taking their technology away from them, as it is now a part of their humanity

• We should NOT DISMISS the  early attempts and versions of AI as “primitive” or “inferior to what humans (pr professionals) can do.”  That’s how many first dismissed huge transformations such as electric light or horseless carriages. Instead, we should think longer term—e.g., 20 years down the exponential improvement curve, to the time when our young people will be in the middle—i.e., traditionally most productive— stage of their life. By that time, with 20 years of advancement at the current pace or faster,

anything almost any “expert” can now do do will be imitated perfectly by AI. Humans need new ways of thinking about how they can go further with this new capability as part of them.

We do not yet know what AI might create on its own that is totally new. But

young humans better begin understanding that we are now becoming symbiotic empowered hybrids with our technology—including AI— and start focusing their efforts on REALIZING DREAMS,  FIXING PROBLEMS, and HELPING OTHER PEOPLE using these new capabilities.  

With AI getting so good, so fast, at many things, they’d better be thinking about what  • THEY CAN DO   • THEY CHOOSE TO DO   and   • WHAT THEY WILL ACCOMPLISH THAT IS POSITIVE  with their new human capabilities in their new world.