There is one question I hear almost every time I tell someone what I do:
“So… do you think AI is going to take your job?”
It is usually followed by a laugh. Sometimes it is a genuine question. And, if I'm being honest, I understand why people ask.
Artificial intelligence has gone from something that seemed like science fiction to something we interact with every day. We ask it questions, use it to generate images and music, write computer programs with it, and increasingly see it being used in workplaces, schools, factories and even cars.
With all the new advances, it's hard not to wonder if we landed ourselves in a sci-fy flick. This year, a New York school district made headlines with plans to introduce a humanoid AI robot named Sally as a teaching assistant for high school students studying coding, robotics and artificial intelligence. The robot was designed to support—not replace—the classroom teacher, but the idea understandably sparked plenty of debate about what role AI should have in education. Read more about Sally from the Associated Press.
Then there are the headlines about AI replacing jobs.
One of the biggest stories to argue this comes from the biggest car manufacturer, Ford. Recently, the popular automotive brand brought approximately 350 experienced engineers into its workforce after automated quality-control systems weren't producing the results the company expected. Rather than eliminating the need for human expertise, the experience demonstrated something important: AI can be an incredibly powerful tool, but it still depends on people who understand what they are doing. Those experienced engineers are now helping identify problems, train younger employees and improve the company's automated systems. Read more about Ford's experience with AI and its engineering teams.
So, do I think AI is taking my job?
No.
And here's why.
New Technology Has Always Made Us Nervous
Every major technological shift has brought some amount of uncertainty.
When radio became popular, it changed how people received information and entertainment. Television changed how families experienced news and storytelling. The internet changed communication, commerce, education and virtually every industry imaginable.
And now we're experiencing another major shift.
AI feels different because it can interact with us in ways that seem surprisingly human. It can answer questions, write stories, create images, analyze information and even help people write computer programs.
But at the end of the day, AI is not a person.
It doesn't have dreams.
It doesn't have ambitions.
It doesn't wake up one morning and decide it would really like to be in charge of the planet.
This isn't Terminator.
AI is technology created by people. At its core, artificial intelligence is software designed to process information, recognize patterns and perform tasks that can resemble human intelligence. The more we understand how that technology works, the less mysterious—and often less frightening—it becomes.
And that's exactly why I believe children need to learn about it.
AI Is a Tool. What Matters Is How We Use It.
Think about a calculator.
A calculator can perform complicated math much faster than most of us can. But giving a child a calculator doesn't automatically teach them mathematics. Having the answer, doesn't give them the why.
The child still needs to understand what problem they're trying to solve, which information matters, whether the answer makes sense and what to do with that answer.
AI is similar.
It can give us information incredibly quickly. But fast information isn't the same thing as understanding.
If a student asks an AI to teach them everything about U.S. history and then accepts every answer without question, they may actually learn very little. AI can only work with the information available to it, and AI systems can make mistakes, misunderstand questions or confidently produce information that isn't accurate.
But what happens when a student already knows how to research, question, compare sources and think critically?
AI becomes much more useful.
The student can ask better questions.
They can recognize when something doesn't sound right.
They can challenge the answer.
They can take what AI provides and build something new from it.
And, perhaps most importantly, they can contribute knowledge of their own.
That's the part of the conversation about AI that I think gets overlooked.
We don't need children who know how to ask AI for every answer. We need children who know enough to recognize a good answer, question a bad one and create something AI couldn't have created without them.
That's Why I Teach Kids to Code
This is also why I don't see AI as the enemy of coding education.
Quite the opposite.
Learning to code teaches children how technology works instead of simply teaching them how to consume it.
When a child writes a program, something doesn't work, and they have to figure out why, they're learning much more than syntax. They're practicing problem-solving, logic, creativity, persistence and critical thinking.
Those skills become more valuable in an AI-powered world, not less.
AI may be able to generate a piece of code in seconds. But who decides what that code should accomplish? Who recognizes that the code is wrong? Who figures out how to change it? Who comes up with an idea that hasn't been tried before?
A person does.
And that's the future I want our kids prepared for.
Not a future where humans compete against computers.
A future where humans understand the computers they have created well enough to use them responsibly, creatively and intelligently.
So, Is AI Scary?
Honestly? Sometimes.
New technology deserves thoughtful questions. We should absolutely talk about privacy, misinformation, bias, safety, ethics and the ways AI may change the workplace.
Pretending there are no risks would be just as irresponsible as pretending AI is going to take over the world.
But fear shouldn't prevent us from learning.
Understanding is one of the best ways to turn uncertainty into confidence.
And who better to learn alongside than the generation that will grow up with this technology?
At Code Ninjas Leawood, we're giving kids an opportunity to explore artificial intelligence not as something mysterious or frightening, but as something they can understand, question and create with.
Because someday, these kids won't just be using the technology we're building today.
They'll be the ones building what comes next.
Ready to Let Your Ninja Explore AI?
Through September 30, new students who enroll in our CREATE program can receive four weeks of AI Academy free. It's an opportunity for kids to get hands-on experience with the technology everyone is talking about—and for parents to discover that AI becomes a lot less intimidating when you understand how it works.
Sometimes the best way to overcome a fear is simply to learn more about it.
And who knows?
Your kid might explain it to you better than I ever could.