I'm Getting So Sick And Tired Of All The "Gloom and Doom"

Much of it manufactured and funded by the industry to make money. But now, let's talk about our kids, our treasure and our future. I get asked all the time: "Stephen, how should we manage AI and our children? As a parent, teacher, and CEO

1. Keep your kids as far away from GenAI and screens as possible
2. Make sure they spend lots of time with other humans (in person)
3. Make sure they read and do their own writing and learn to communicate
4. Make sure they struggle; excellence is difficult and requires sacrifice
5. Teach them to be positive, optimistic, but skeptical.
6. Teach them to help other kids. Many are quietly suffering

And as a bonus: If thinking gets easier, it's not thinking.

(BTW most of the tech CEOs and VC's who fund and build this stuff keep this tech far away from their kids and send their kids to schools that don't allow it)

Mark Zuckerberg won't let his kids use social media.

Bill Gates banned smartphones.

Steve Jobs strictly limited screen time.

Next, this line makes me ill, often from influencers who get paid to push AI on children and schools

"They need to learn it early."

No, they don't. The problem is it is too easy to learn; it's not hard at all. It's easier to learn how to use GPT as it to learn how to smoke for God sake.

What they need to learn is to

1. Think critically
2. Read deeply
3. Write persuasively
4. Ask hard questions
5. Speak clearly
6. Spend time with other humans
7. Help others who are suffering
8. Question Everything.

Will GenAI become a force for good? Yes, absolutely! It already can be. This is not a tech challenge. This is a bad actors, fear, money, and greed issue.

And the elephant in the room? The evidence of "brain rot"

This is real people

A 2024 NYU/Stanford study of 666 participants found a direct correlation between AI use and lower critical thinking, especially among 17 – 25 year olds. College-educated users relying on GenAI for writing performed 25% worse on accuracy. Teachers report a sharp decline in student focus, originality, and reasoning. Oh and remember all those doctors with the perfect hair who told us cigarettes don't cause cancer? It really is quite similar.

Now they're LinkedIn influencers. Do the opposite of everything they tell you and you will be fine.

Written by Stephen B. Klein