Dear Parents,
Something I’ve been worrying about recently is how rapidly AI is reshaping every aspect of our lives.
As a software engineer, I see AI-code generators like Cursor generate hundreds of lines code in minutes. Designers and artists are being disrupted by Midjourney and ChatGPT who can conjure images from a single prompt. Voice actors are being threatened by ElevenLab that can clone voices and generate audio clips on the fly.
While this allows VocabKing to push out new features at 2-3x speed, I wonder what’s next?
The Double-Edged Sword of AI in Education
Across the globe, classrooms in USA and China are teaching AI literacy in classrooms. On one hand, I believe this is necessary – like it or not, Pandora’s box has been opened and AI is here to stay, and AI literacy is going to be as fundamental as reading or math.
On the other hand, as an educator, I know firsthand how tricky it can be. If every student has access to an AI that can draft essays and solve math problems, how do we ensure they’re truly learning the underlying concepts? Not to mention hallucinations for content-heavy subjects like Math and Science.
A Father’s Mission: Raising an “AI-Ready” Child
Meanwhile, as a father, I feel a profound responsibility to help my son navigate and thrive in this AI-infused world. I used to think teaching him how to code was enough – but unfortunately, in an era where we can vibe-code a full SaaS application over a weekend, that is patently insufficient.
More and more, I think the best thing we can do is teach our kids skills that transcend any single tool: how to break problems down, how to tell a compelling story, and how to prototype ideas quickly.
That’s what I want to impart to my boy – the ability to think of an idea, break it down, and then get an AI to code it out while he finishes his Ribena. Rather than fearing AI will replace human skill, I want him to leverage AI to bring his imagination to life. Whether it’s a dinosaur in space game or a Math calculator.
Introducing the Future Innovators AI Holiday Camp
That vision is exactly why I’m launching AI Explorers, a hands-on holiday camp this June. The class will be small, just 10 students, and we will go from zero to hero in 3 days. No prior coding experience required.
Here’s what I’m thinking:
- Day 1: Simple introduction to prompting by creating a picture storybook. And jazz it up with image and audio generation.
- Day 2: Learn how to meta-prompt by creating and deploying a website to host the storybook we created.
- Day 3: Capstone project. Your child plans out their own project and learn how to generate it through iterative prompting.
If you have a curious 10 to 14-year-old in your life and you want them to explore AI hands-on this summer, check out this link for more info. Let’s build something great together!
Warm Regards,
Dan
Founder of VocabKing
No responses yet