There is hope (in AI use)

I was on the public MRT train on Monday morning here in Singapore, and next to my kids sat a teenager who must have been in secondary school. He did homework right then and there, balancing a worksheet and pen on his lap. He had his phone placed openly on the worksheet and from my position, I saw in an that he used ChatGPT.

'Oh no, is he letting AI do his homework?,' I thought. My 12-year-old daughter had just told me a few days ago how she knows a few people at school who let AI basically do their entire homework.

I felt judgment rise in me...disappointment, too. But then my coach-training kicked in and I pushed away my judgment and thought, 'hmm, don't be so fast. You don't know this kid.'

I saw him intensely work with his phone back and forth for a few minutes. I talked to my kids a little and then when I looked back, something had happened. His phone was gone. He was busy working on his assignments just with pen and paper. I haven't seen him use his phone again for the entire, remaining trip of 15 minutes.

I realized in that moment that I had judged him based on my own expectations (well, called 'prejudice'), not on facts. I felt a bit embarrassed. Here was a bright spot right in front of me. He had found a healthy kind of balance—he likely used the chatbot to support his thinking and remove an obstacle. I left the train impressed and with a surprising feeling of hope.

AI *will* change the way we work, the way we communicate, the way we learn. I deeply believe it will transform personalized learning, squaring a circle in education to customize experiences based on needs.

But (and this is a big "but"), AI also provides ample opportunities to take mental shortcuts. It brings the allure of avoiding effort. BUT, acquiring a skill and learning is *always* dependent on struggle...at least until we can acquire skills via download to our brains like in 'The Matrix' 🕶️, which I recently watched with my kids for the first time.

Until that's the case, I hope that generations of teens and adults are capable of what I saw on that train on Monday: to put away the ever-alluring AI when appropriate, and invest in HI (human intelligence) first!