EP 382: Why AI Literacy is Essential for Parents and Kids in Education and Beyond

This is the Everyday AI show, the everyday podcast where we simplify AI and bring its power to your fingertips. Listen daily for practical advice to boost your career, business and everyday life.

In the same way that social media has completely changed the way in which kids grow up and how they interact with their peers, artificial intelligence is going to do the same thing, except it may be coming at us even faster and have even wider implications than social media did. I think this is an important topic to talk about when we talk about generative AI, its impact on kids, parents and the educational system. In total, I'm excited for today's conversation. What's going on, y'?

All?

My name is Jordan Wilson. I'm the host of Everyday AI. This is your daily livestream podcast and free daily newsletter helping you learn and leverage generative AI to grow your companies and to grow your careers. So if that sounds like you, or if you're just very interested with kind of this concept of how AI impacts, you know, how we raise our kids, you're definitely in the right place. If you haven't already, go to your Everyday AI dot com. Sign up for that free daily newsletter Every day we bring you everything you need to keep up with in the world of AI, as well as recapping key insights from our interview each day. So before we get into the topic today, which I'm very passionate about personally, I always try to let our guests shine. I might have to, you know, butt in with a hot take here or there, but let's first go over with what's going on in the world of AI news. So Google Cloud has announced the general availability of Vertex AI and its healthcare data engine. So Google Cloud has just launched the general availability of its Vertex AI platform and new features for its healthcare data engine. So these Vertex AI improvements facilitate faster querying of health records and insights gathering, enhancing patient care. So the integration of Gemini in medlm models focus on generative AI applications in healthcare. With medlm recognized for its performance on medical licensing exams, highlighting its potential impact. So a study by Google Cloud and the Harris Poll revealed clinicians spend over 28 hours a week. Yikes. On administrative tasks, with 80% feeling those duties detract from patient care. Yeah, so obviously I think healthcare is a huge, huge industry about to be disrupted in a good way by AI. Speaking of disruption in AI, Nvidia has unveiled a new AI model. And on some early benchmarks, it's actually outperforming big frontier models from OpenAI and Anthropic. So Nvidia's new model is called Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B instruct. Yeah, that's the name. But it is obviously based on Meta's open source llama 3.1 model. So essentially all the smart Nvidia researchers went in, fine tuned it, made it better, and it's a superhero now. So the model achieved Top scores in 85 on the Arena Hard benchmark as well as a 57.66 on Alpa Eval 2. All right, so we'll, we'll share all those dorky benchmarks in the newsletters, but now businesses can access the model through Nvidia's free hosted inference platform, which is build.Nvidia.com right now Nvidia is warning that the model may not yet be suitable for specialized specialized tasks in the field that require high accuracy. But this move could prompt competitors to accelerate their own development efforts and reshape strategies across various sectors. Yeah, anytime an open source or open weights model goes in and competes with the big boys, the proprietary models, you got to keep your eyes open. All right, last but not least, the New York Times is taking legal action against Perplexity over content use. So the New York Times has demanded that Perplexity stop using its content for generative AI purposes, claiming it violates copyright law. In a letter dated October 2, the Times requested that Perplexity cease all unauthorized access to its content and provide details on how it has been accessing their website so far. Perplexity asserts that it is not scraping data, but rather indexing web pages. Yeah, the nuances there to provide factual content as citations and responses to user queries. The Times has obviously previously clashed with OpenAI and has an ongoing huge lawsuit with them. And right now, Perplexity has also faced similar accusations from other media organizations all across the board. So, you know, make sure to pay attention as we will continue to keep you up to date with this. All right? But you didn't come here to hear about AI news. You came here to listen and to learn about why AI literacy right now is essential for parents and kids in education and beyond. And don't worry, you don't have to hear me just blab on. I have a great guest for today, so please help me in welcoming to the show. There we go. We have Stephanie Worrell, who's the founder of AI Empower. You. Stephanie, thank you so much for joining the everyday AI show.

Hey, thanks Jordan. Thanks so much for having me. This is such an important topic. I was really excited to to come on your show, so thank you. Thanks again. For having me.

All right. And hey, thank you again for joining us. And to everyone joining us live, thank you. Please, if you have questions for Stephanie, go ahead and get them in. You know, that's, that's one thing people don't know. Yeah, you're probably listening on the podcast, but this is a unedited, unscripted, live stre. We like to have fun. But Stephanie, before we get started, can you tell everyone just a little bit about what you do at AI Empower you?

Yes. I am the founder of AI Empower you, and our mission is to educate parents around AI. We, we talk about, you know, safety, education, preparation, and, you know, everything from one on one with families to courses. I've got a book out, Raising AI Smart Kids. So the whole mission is really to sure that, you know, parents help. Help parents teach and educate their kids around AI to make sure that, you know, you're prepared and they're prepared for the future. AI is here. It's not going away. Don't stick your head. We, you know, you can't stick your head in the sand anymore. So it's really to bring awareness around the need for AI and education. So.

Yeah, and Stephanie, you're coming at this from multiple angles. So now with your business, you know, working with parents and, you know, trying to improve AI literacy. But can you tell everyone really quick about your own, you know, background in the classroom and what you do on the teaching side as well?

Yeah, I'm a college professor at an adjunct at three different universities. I teach marketing and communication courses. And really, I mean, I have my own kids, they're older, one's 20, one's 26. But where I really realized that there was a need for it was really a couple years ago as AI generative AI started to come onto the scene. You know, I thought this is going to be in the workforce and as an educator and, you know, I want my, my students to go out into the workforce and be able to, like, contribute right away, feel good about, you know, that they know what they're doing as much as they possibly can. And I'm thinking AI is out there and they're not getting any type of. It's not integrated into the curriculum. Universities are more, more centered around right now, like figuring out, just trying to harness it in terms of, you know, plagiarism and that kind of thing. Well, it's not integrated into the curriculum. And so when the, our students are going out, like, if I was a, you know, you asked me for a hot take earlier, like, if I was a college student, right now I'd be flipping out about going out into the workforce because it's, you know, you're, you're likely not getting much AI integrated into your education right now. So you need to, you know, parents of college students, parents of high school students, teenagers like you. You gotta make sure your, your kids are educated around AI because when they, if you want to live, unless you want them living in your basement forever, which I guess I wouldn't mind that my kids move back. And I'm just joking, you know, you've gotta just like we always have. We got to prepare our kids for the future.

Yeah. Stephanie's kids right now about to save on rent. They heard that part. You know, they're coming back to the basement, mom. So, you know, Stephanie, I'm gonna ask you about, you know, kind of both of these major hats that you wear, right? Both as an educator and now as someone working with parents, but maybe let's start on the ladder. So what are parents most worried about right now when it comes to not just AI and AI literacy, but just in general. Right, Because I think this is a seismic shift. But what are parents worried about right now? Are you still running in circles trying to figure out how to actually grow your business with AI? Maybe your company has been tinkering with large language models for a year or more, but can't really get traction to find ROI on Genai? Hey, this is Jordan Wilson, host of this very podcast. Companies like Adobe, Microsoft and Nvidia have partnered with us because they trust our expertise in educating the masses around generative AI to get ahead. And some of the most innovative companies in the country hire us to help with their AI strategy and to train hundreds of their employees on how to use Genai. So whether you're looking for ChatGPT training for thousands or just need help building your front end AI strategy, you can partner with us too, just like some of the biggest companies in the world do. Go to your everydayai.com partner to get in contact with our team or you can just click on the partner section of our website. We'll help you stop running in those AI circles and help get your team ahead and build a straight path to ROI on Genai.

I think most of the parents that I encounter, like, I think they're just worried, they don't understand it. A and then there, there's a lot of demon. Demonizing of it, so they're worried about it. Like, I think everybody thinks, you know, we've seen all the most generations that are probably listening here. You know, the robot movies are here. You know, they're worried that robots are going to take over the world and parents are worried about themselves and, and what they're. If they're going to be able to continue in the workforce. So, you know, I don't understand it and I, A lot of parents are demonizing it, which is causing them to stick their heads in the sand. So that's, that's what I'm seeing right now is like a lot of them are just even ignoring it because they, they don't understand it. So it's been really interesting. When I started doing this, I thought, oh, everyone's going to want to know about this and they need to know about it. And you know, it's been a little bit difficult to like, start to warm parents up to the idea that, hey, it's, it's here.

So, you know, and maybe we can learn a little bit through even your personal example. So you said you have kids and you, you know, you were, you know, going through this, probably much more educated than the average parent. Right. Being a professor in marketing and communications. But how did you even approach this, you know, as a parent? Maybe walk us through kind of how you saw AI's impact happening and you know, how you, you know, navigated that as a parent.

Yeah. So I started. I've got two different kids and it's really interesting. I've got one kid that's a scientist and was very opposed to it and thought, you know, we can't be you know, AIs. You know, she was demonizing it basically and didn't see the value. And you know, it's thought it, the, and still sometimes thinks it's, you know, and, and there are mis. There is misinformation. So we need to make sure. That's one of the things we educate kids about and parents is like, there's a lot of misinformation out there. And then I've got another kid that any shortcut he can take to like get his homework done, you, he's there and he's all about it. So I had to make sure with one kid, the one that's in college right now that is just starting his freshman year, making sure that he understands that, you know, you, you still need to critical think you need to know how to use it. You need to use it to enhance your education. But, but, but just by. And it's very easy. Like you have to write a paper. He was participating in a discussion group not too long, you know, early in the semester, and he thought he could just, you know, plug it into AI and participate in the discussion, and that's plagiarism. So we need to make sure, you know, our kids clear down to, like, third and fourth grade. I was at a dinner table this summer with third and fourth graders, and they were using it to do their math, and they were using it to do their papers. So. So with one kid, I. I approached it where, you know, here's the guardrails around it here, how. Here's how you need to use it to enhance and, you know, your education. Then the other one, I had to show her the benefits of using it and that, you know, it can. That you can use it for good. You know, she's just recently starting a new job with AmeriCorps, and I helped her use it as she was applying for jobs with her resume and all of, you know, her resume or cover letter, all of those things. Of course, we didn't just plop our information out there. And. And then out, you know, out came her resume and her cover letter. You know, I had her, you know, she wrote it, and then we put it in. Put it into AI to customize it. And it really, you know, everybody was very impressed with. With her resume and her cover letter. And it was because we. We did a good job of enhancing it with AI.

Yeah. And, yeah, I think that's very important to talk about. Stephanie, is this. You know, I say this sometimes, the duality of. Of AI, right? There's. There's a shiny side of this, of. Of the coin, and then there's a scary side of the coin as well. So I think, you know, we've. We've talked plenty on this show about the shiny side, right? About the, you know, the access to education, all the great good that AI can do in the classroom, personalized learning, all of those things. What about the scary side? What should parents be aware of when it comes to, you know, potential risks of AI? Safety. All of those things.

Yeah. Safety is a. Is a big part of what I talk about with parents and, you know, basic Internet. Hopefully parents at this point have, you know, basic Internet, you know, you know, making sure. Boundaries around it, those kind of things. But the scary side of it, if you don't and you're not monitoring, first have the conversation, know, because your kids are probably using it. So have the conversation, understand how they're using it. But, you know, right now, we were just talking about a case in Massachusetts, the Hingham School District. There was a kid that they the parents just sued school district and I believe the teacher because they were accusing him of plagiarizing a paper that he had done and really had. He had been using it like Google to do his background research. So the scary side of it is, you know, you need to understand how your kids are using it. So if something like that happens, you, you can deal with it as a parent with the school district and know whether your kid, how they used it, how they're using it, whether they plagiarized or not. Deep fakes are out there. We're seeing that with celebrities, you know, Taylor Swift and multiple celebrities. But it's also happening to young kids, you know, with pornography and those kind of things and that with the video capabilities, which you talk about a lot, you know, it's becoming more and more advanced, and so it can look like your child is starring in a porn movie, basically. So we need, you need to make sure that you educate your kids around that. And then the other thing that I worry about is, it's with AI, is that, you know, you put information in, you put questions in, it can answer you back. And so, you know, we've got social media and now we're going to layer AI and it has the ability to talk back to you. And so kids are starting to develop relationships versus, you know, with, with the, with AI versus, you know, versus other, other kids, other students, with their families. And so, you know, deep fakes, plagiarism and, you know, and, and, and just making sure that kids are having real relationships with people and they aren't like, diving into, you know, you know, instead of dating or, or having friendships that, you know, they're developing meaningful relationships.

Yeah, it's, it's an important call out, Stephanie, because I think maybe some parents, when they think of AI or generative AI, they just think of chat GPT, right? And they just think of text on a screen, right? Not knowing that, you know, these large language models are even multimodal, right? Knowing, hey, chat GPT on the phone, you can literally pick up and start talking to it and it'll talk back to you, right? Luckily, the guardrails are okay, you know, at least in this first version. But I do believe future versions of this technology will have fewer guardrails, right? So, you know, you kind of talked about, hey, parents need to have like, they would, like, they need to have some sort of rule or guidelines like they would on the Internet or, or maybe similar to social media. So how can parents find that balance? Right? Because number one, this is brand New, right? Like, this is coming fast. It's changing and updating every day. So that's, that's number one. But number number two, like, we've never been here before. We don't have any, you know, barometer to, to go back and say, oh, this is like years ago when this happened. So how can parents find that nice balance of, of using AI for the good, but keeping up and keeping their kids away from all of the bad?

Yeah, I mean, just like I talked about, have a conversation, understand how they're using it. More than likely, if they're fifth grade or older, they're using it in some way. And they're also, I mean, there's Khan Academy, that's already in the schools, so that, you know, your kids are already using it, you probably just don't know about it. And so, you know, having the conversation and then setting boundaries around it. So understanding what they're using it for. So if they're using Chat gbt, how they're using it, if they're still using their, you know, critical thinking, understand what's out there. Because, you know, we've talked a lot about the negative side of it, but there's a lot of positive. One of the big positives for me was, I wish I would have had this when I was a parent. And we haven't been there before. Is the homework hell in the evenings? You know, so you're. The kids are hangry. You're hangry. They're trying to get their, you know, you're trying to get math. I didn't, I was. I'm not a math student. You know, under, you know, educating yourself how to use CHAT GPT. There's photo math, like how to help tutor your own kids to do homework. Like, you don't turn, you don't sit your kid popping down in front of the computer and say, hey, Chat GPT, help them do their homework. Like you're like, like using it as a tutor. You know, we. So that, that can be really helpful. So, you know, using it for the good, understanding what the good is. So setting boundaries, starting the conversation, understanding how to use it for the good. And then, you know, just basically under, you know, keeping yourself up to date. One of the things that I do is I have a parent community that you can join and so talking to each other, you know, seeing what's happening with kids, I think is a good, it's good.

So, you know, I love that example of, you know, don't just sit your kid in front of Chat GPT and Say help, right? Make it a collaborative experience. Which I think is a, is a great point, right? Because not only can it bring personalized learning to students, it can bring, you know, personalized tutoring to student parents. Combos. Right. And to help the two of you through it can help parents be better, you know, educators for their children, which I think is often an overlooked aspect of, of AI. But what about the, you know, you kind of referenced earlier, Stephanie, about some of these downsides. But, but maybe even what about its potential toll on like, mental health? Right? That's obviously, you know, I think social media, personally, I, I hate social media, right? Like, I, I'm not on anything aside from like, you know, LinkedIn or reading news on Twitter, but I'm not on Facebook and Instagram and Snapchat and all these TikToks, right. I, I don't touch those because I think that they can have a real negative impact on people. Is AI can it have a similar negative impact on mental health?

Yeah, absolutely. And I started to touch on it. But, you know, you're absolutely right. And I, because of what I do in my work and then, you know, and trying to get a message out, I do, I work, you know, I, I am on social media. And so, you know, we, we layer AI on top of that where, you know, you can, it. AI can again have a conversation with you and you can isolate yourself and, and you know, some of our kids that are, you know, in college right now have already been isolated because of COVID and they're already having mental health issues and they started to isolate themselves to social media. I know numerous kids, maybe even one of my own, that started to do that during social media. And we're still trying to get her out of that, out of that mode where, you know, you are building relationships with other people and so, and it can tell you what to do. I mean, this isn't an example of a, A, a kid or a parent, but there was a reporter and I think from the New York Times that started talking to chat gbt and ultimately it started talking to him about divorcing his wife. So, you know that, you know that, you know, I've not seen that happen. But, you know, you don't know, you don't know where all that data is coming from. And, and so, you know, and it is starting to personalize and talk to you. You know, I can put in, you know, I'm a Gemini and it can, you know, give me my astrological readout for the day so it can start to get so we've got to make sure that our kids just aren't talking to the computer. They aren't, you know, kids, a lot of kids are, you know, gaming and social media. They're spending all their time on the computer. That was something that we fought with the kids growing up and now it's, there's even more of a reason, you know, they can actually have a, what they think might be a meaningful conversation with AI. So you know, it, it layers on the mental health issues that could, can happen with social media. So. You're absolutely right.

Yeah. And, and maybe now, Stephanie, if we can put on your other hat.

Right.

So we just talked a little bit about parents and kids, you know, the, the younger demographic. But now let's talk a little bit about what you do on the other side. Right. Educating college students. What's, what's your take on even AI literacy in college students? And you know, I'm glad you actually, you know, adjunct at three different, you know, three different places. So you probably have a nice more balanced viewpoint than if you were in just one. But overall. Right. How would you explain the current landscape of AI use in colleges? And what should even parents of college age kids be looking out for?

Yeah, I mean it's the same as when you're, I mean, just basic, the things that we worry about when our kids are in college is, you know, I, I mean I don't think my kids would do this, but you never know like plagiarizing and all the things that we, you know, worry about as college students. But the, again, the thing that I really, I really started to hone in on is we're starting to see all these AI tools out there that, that like even like Grammarly, you know, things like that. Like I, I suggest all of my students use Grammarly so they're not writing their paper with, with AI, but they're using Grammarly to up level their, you know, their, their work. And so as I'm teaching and working with, I'm trying to introduce them to those kind of tools. So they're not, like I said, it's not doing the work for them, it's enhancing them. It's help, it's brain, it's helping them brainstorm. So introducing them to tools that they can use when they, that they're immediately going to see, I mean obviously they're going to likely see chat gbt. So at least introducing them to chat GBT and the right ways to using it, you know, and, and things, you know, I also work with professionals in the communications industry. So things that, you know, trans around transparency, making sure people know you are using AI, how to use it, what the tools are out there. And then the job landscape is starting to shift. So the other thing is teaching kids how to and students, not all of them are kids, some of them are older, you know, what, how to look for jobs, you know, job searches, what's out there, you know, should they be learning how to code? You know, really just getting the basic fundamentals AI in the classroom so that they aren't shocked when they go out because their peers are going to be using it in different ways. So really it's all about I, I really emphasize preparing yourself. And you know, a lot of, like I said, a lot of the schools right now are all about either getting an AI tool so they can say they have AI in their, in their schools, or they're work, just working about around the guard rails, you know, preventing plagiarism and those kind of things. So we want, I mean the, it's scary enough for a kid, a student to graduate. You know, that senior year they're all, they're already worried about getting a job and now we're layering on top of that a whole new technology that they, that normally like we always think about. I mean I always thought about young people like oh yeah, social media, inter, you know, WI Fi, Internet, all those things. You know, young kids have a grasp on that. We, we turn to them to help understand that and they're getting that at the university level. Well, it's not happening at the this point and it's it. We, we've got to make sure that it's, it's introduced in our curriculum.

Yeah, and a lot of, a lot of great points there to, to unravel. Stephanie. I think, you know, one, one important thing to talk about. You know, I know like as an example you mentioned Grammarly, right. Because I think early on in the, you know, generative AI wave, you know, that's where everyone looked. They're like okay, well Grammarly and right. But you have to keep up because things always change. And now Grammarly for the most part can function exactly like chat GPT, right. You can have literally a blank screen and you can have Grammarly essentially write your paper. Right. Or improve it. But you know, I think that's another thing that's important to, to call out is all these tools are, are changing and even you know, tools that you might have thought is traditionally. Oh, okay, it's great if my child uses Grammarly at all times. I'm not saying it's bad. Right. It's so great. But you know, even the features and functionalities of what all these other AI tools can do changes constantly. And one, one other thing that I wanted to dive into a little bit deeper here is, is you, you talked about preparedness, right. And, and students coming out of college feeling prepared. I think there's some universities that are doing great at this. Right. And they're introducing generative AI in a responsible, ethical way and teaching students what they need to know. There are some schools that I think are completely dropping the ball and still just blanket, blanket, banning all AI, which is the most in demand skill when students get out in the workforce. So from your perspective, how should schools be tackling this? Maybe a little bit better, maybe a little bit more uniformly to make sure students when they leave college are prepared and have these essential skills.

Yeah, we need to be looking at, we need to be working with the professors and, you know, the teachers and, and making sure that it is introduced into the curriculum. So when you're writing your syllabus for the semester, you know, you're thinking about how generative AI, you know, plays into this subject, whether, even if it's a history course, you know, how generative AI plays into the subject, you know, and then when we're, we get, get, you know, as, as they're preparing curriculum for students at the upper levels where you're taking courses that are more related to your major and what you're going to be doing when you get out, really making sure that you're, you know, you have, you know, even if you're, you as a professor are not all up to speed on generative AI. There's lots of speakers out there that you can bring in, experts, you know, people like myself, lots of, there are experts in AI that you can bring into the classroom. So bringing that perspective and exposing, I mean, I was, I'm most, most teachers are already doing that like bringing guest speakers in so that they understand. I know when I teach marketing communications, like, I want individuals to come in, professionals to come in that are talking to them about what the profession is like now so that when they get out, they're not surprised. So making sure, we're just making sure we're integrating it in and you know, even companies are banning it. I mean, it's sort of like social media. I don't, you, I don't know if you remember this, but in my profession, when social media started to roll out, I was like, oh my gosh, no, we can't be doing that, you know, at the corporate level. Like, we can't let anybody on social media that we can't take that stance. With AI all around in our education, in our profession, we've got to be open to it and we got to get up to speed.

So we've covered a whole lot today. Stephanie, from you know, some of the potential misuses and dangers of, you know, kind of unsupervised AI in kids and some of the scary things and why it's important for parents to be actively involved. And we went all the way through, right, all the way through college. And you know, why it's important for universities to equip students with AI skills. But as we wrap up here, maybe what is the one most important takeaway? Right? So with, with parents out there listening, students out there listening, what is your one most important takeaway when it comes to why AI literacy is so important for parents and kids?

Yeah, well, my one main message is don't stick your head in the sand, like, get on the, get on the bus. Educate yourself. And then, you know, why parents should educate themselves. I mean, not only can it benefit yourself, you as a parent. I talked about the homework aspect of it. It can make you a better parent. I use it for organization, you know, nutrition, my schedule. I mean, it can really enhance your job as a parent and help educate yourself as a parent, help you have a better relationship with your kid. I don't know, you know, about you out, the parents out there listening. But, you know, the homework, health stuff, really, it can put a, you know, rift between, it's not, it's not fun. So making sure that, you know, you understand how to use it to be a. Up to enhance yourself as a parent. And then again, preparation, you know, your kids are going to be exposed to it and they need to be prepared and they need to know what to do. Just like with social media, you know, if something happens, they need to know what to do if something happens. Like a deep fake. So, you know, just, and then just preparing your kids for the future so that they, you know, they aren't afraid of it and they can get jobs, they can be gainfully employed and, you know, stay out of your basement in the future.

So know, hey, that's always what parents want to hear, right? How can we ensure the kids get out of the basement? Stephanie, this was a great conversation to have. I, I think it's important that we talk about this, you know, AI literacy and kind of how it plays into our, our, you know, impact in the roles of parents have with their kids. So thank you so much for taking time out of your day to join Everyday AI and help our audience better understand this. We appreciate your time.

Yeah, sure. Anytime. Thanks Jordan. Thanks.

As a reminder y', all, there is a lot there. We packed in a lot. Don't worry if you miss anything. We're going to be recapping all of it and everything that you need to know outside of today's interview as well in our newsletter. So if you haven't already, please go to your everydayai.com Sign up for that free daily newsletter if this was helpful. If you're listening on the podcast, please share it with someone. Subscribe to the show, leave us a rating and and more importantly, please join us back tomorrow and every day for more Everyday AI. Thanks y'. All.

And that's a wrap for today's edition of Everyday AI. Thanks for joining us. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave us a rating. It helps keep us going for a little more AI magic. Visit your everydayai.com and sign up to our daily newsletter so you don't get left behind. Go break some barriers and we'll see you next time.