The Real Future of AI

Guess who should be driving its design?

I just participated in an AI conference that left me not just optimistic, but genuinely inspired. It wasn’t a run-of-the-mill AI tech even; it was nothing short of a global movement of creators, leaders, and thinkers. Over the course of 20-plus-hours, and across 16 cities around the world, I witnessed people using AI not with hype and fear, but rather to shape the future with fearlessness, ethics, and laser-focused vision. The most impressive part? While all of the participants were clearly driving the future, few of them were old enough to drive.

Teens are the first AI-native generation. And they know it. TUMO, the free educational program in Armenia that teaches Armenian kids from 12 to 18 technology and design (and where I am a proud board member), created ai/teens, a first-of-its-kind digital conference created by and for teens that answered one of the questions I’ve been asking lately:

What happens when teens design the world they want to live in rather than be protected out of the equation?

Because the future of AI won’t be about who has the best algorithms; it will be about who gets to decide what we build.

Yes, there were impressive adults in the lineup – Nick Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic; Khan Academy founder Sal Khan; Manu Chopra (CEO of Karya and one of TIME's 100 Most Influential People in AI…and a podcast guest!); and digital artist Refik Anadol. But it was the kids who blew me away.

In Buenos Aires, I witnessed teens designing visual effects that could have been made in Hollywood, while others in LA debated not just whether chatbots can replicate (or replace) human conversation, but whether it should. There was even a 9-year-old from Uganda who developed a medical application to help her community. These weren’t proof-of-concept demos. They were real, working tools. Real questions. Real leadership.

It made me realize that it’s time to flip the script.

Rather than adults at corporations building products to market and sell to young people — who parents and regulators try (and fail) to protect after the fact — why don’t we put the people who are going to pay the ultimate price for AI at the center of its design? Why do we treat them as a market segment rather than participants?

ai/teens showed us not fear but fluency. I saw kids using AI to push boundaries and ask better questions. Not just about what we can do, but what we should do. They weren’t just thinking about the risks of AI. They were actively building futures where AI is used to increase inclusion, bridge learning gaps, and fight misinformation.

We need to figure out how to protect teens and young adults from the negative effects of AI, but we also need to empower them to shape it. Coming out of the conference, I’m confident that these fluent AI thinkers will find creative and surprising ways to build a better tomorrow. Their tomorrow. These kids intuitively understand things about AI’s potential that we’ll never grasp. And unlike us, they’re only focusing on the positive.

Of course there needs to be guidance about the risks and ethical boundaries of AI. (In AI, we say it’s important to have a human in the loop. Maybe this is having an adult in the loop.) We can start by embedding AI education into every classroom—something many of the speakers at ai/teens called for. As one of the teachers said during the conference, “We have calculators, but we still teach students addition and multiplication.” She continued, “The more you understand the core principles behind the technology, the more you can interact with it, understand its limitations, adapt to the changing technology, build creatively on top and innovate new technology.”

Let’s not just ask these kids to buy into our ideas. Let’s let them lead: They have shown that they can build creatively, innovate new technology, and come from a place of compassion — and, most importantly — of deep humanity. It’s a future I’m willing to bet on.