Matt Britton on how AI is reshaping what kids need to learn. Parents should use AI with their children, not ban it. Schools are shifting from memorization to creativity and problem-solving as the real skills that matter.
From when I was a kid, and all of a sudden there was, like, Mac in the classroom. Right. Nature's relationship with an AI chatbot that his parents believe contributed to his introducing AI tools to their kids when most of us aren't maybe using it in the same way.
Yeah, I mean, I think parents really need to get their hands on the keyboard, understand how to use this technology. You know, there's so many cool ways that you can use AI to interact with your kids. You can make coloring pages out of family photos. You can make up songs. Really try to make it playful, interactive, bring AI into the family dynamics, and over time, both you and your kid will get used to it and it'll be part of everyday life.
What does literacy even mean in this environment? Right. It's changing so quickly. Like, how do you teach them? Like, how can you tell the difference from one thing versus another, what's real and what's not? And even kind of their own critical thinking. How to still deploy critical thinking in this context?
Yeah. I mean, I think teachers are really going to struggle with this because for years, what it meant to be a good student meant memorization and regurgitation. Right. It meant cramming as much information as possible and then spitting it out the next day on the test. But in this new world, it's going to be about critical thinking. It's going to be about problem solving and creativity. It's not really going to be about memorization, regurgitation of facts. So I think at the youngest ages, and kids need to put themselves in positions where they can be problem solvers, where they can look at AI, not necessarily as a tool where, you know, it's about the problem that's being solved, but it's really about to figure out, to zoom out and say, how can I apply this technology to the world? How can I command it to really move forward? Because the world's going to change. The workforce is going to change. The jobs that exist are going to change moving forward.
As you were saying that, I was thinking about how many students have talked about cheating in college, using the writing papers, doing all kinds of stuff. So we're already seeing this very kind of disruptive moment. I know one thing I struggle with is I look at my kid, he's like, five, six. And I'm like, this won't even be the AI you'll be using in five years. Like, I don't know how to get.
My arm five months.
Okay, man. Come on.
Yeah.
So where do we start?
You know, I think that AI is going to be a part of our lives. And I, you know, I've heard of some schools trying to ban AI, and it reminds me of how some schools banned the Internet when it first came out in the early 2000s. It's, we're not going backwards. And, you know, no matter what job you're in, it's going to seep into every corner of your work. No matter what relationship you have, it's going to seep into every corner of your relationship. So you just have to embrace it. You have to look at where your skill sets are and how I can really superpower your life. I think ignoring it, I think saying, oh, I don't believe in it, that may be the case. But ultimately we're not going backwards. It's a part of our new society. And the quicker that you can understand these tools, the quicker that you can command these tools, the faster you're going to be on the right side of this incredible change that we're seeing in our lifetime.
Matt Britton, thank you so much for your time and for those of you out there want a copy of his book, it's called Generation AI. It's out now.
