Boomers with bots
An AI expert presented for an hour at my daughter’s school, marvelling at the tech and sidestepping its challenges. The students' reaction contains useful learnings for businesses.
At my daughter’s school this week, an “AI explainer” spent an hour walking us from LLM basics to AI-generated videos (cringe). The whole hour radiated boomer energy: technology is here to amuse us while others can deal with the consequences.
After the talk, a student asked how we can support a technology that steals other people’s work. Apparently, he does not support it; he only uses it. Could he not talk more about that? Well, an hour only stretches so far — and clearly, this isn’t as important as showing off your slop-ninja skills.
How can you marvel at AI videos without talking about the issues? Media lawsuits are turning nasty; data centres are attracting ire; Big Tech is accused of a cover-up over sustainability; and anxiety over job displacement is building. And that’s before you include risks in cybersecurity and bioweapons.
I attended the presentation because I was interested in how AI is discussed in everyday settings. It was worse than I thought. The speaker epitomised the tone-deafness of the AI industry, still selling hype to a sceptical and increasingly hostile audience.
Real-world businesses should listen. It is left to us to create a positive AI narrative for young people. How? By using AI to reshape work into what we hoped it would be when we were young.
Key ideas in this post
Many AI “experts” continue to focus on novelty and come across as tone-deaf to young people. Businesses can create a positive AI message for a younger generation by prioritising meaningful work, expanding R&D and backing young founders. Above all, we must stop trivialising AI and brushing away young people’s concerns.
AI is broader than LLMs
Given the choice, young people would prefer to work in purpose-driven domains. I, for one, would gladly live with fewer notaries and financial advisers if we get more jobs in sustainability, health and care, robotics, sciences and the arts.
The economist Jesús Fernandez-Villaverde recently told an audience that only two things matter now: deep learning and fertility. With birth rates falling across most of the world, we must cast LLMs as an enabling technology for longer, healthier lives and economic growth. There are encouraging case studies on how AI can optimise energy consumption, elderly care and drug discovery.
Even if you are not in these sectors, review your value chain and use AI to prioritise meaningful work. Businesses that can peg their work to a purpose will find it easier to attract the energy, ideas and goodwill of a new generation.
A runway for founders
Although not everyone is cut out to be a founder, many young people with the energy and ambition to try are turned off by admin and bureaucracy. AI can help with that, encouraging more people to have a go.
A recent New York Times panel described how AI strips the friction out of starting a business, what one participant called the “supercharging of entrepreneurship”. Setup, applications, business plans, prototypes: tasks that once demanded a team and some budget now demand neither.
Businesses can accelerate the shift with incentives, practical help and early funding, treating the next cohort of founders as a test bed for new ideas and approaches. The firms that mentor and seed young builders today will benefit from their success tomorrow.
More ideas, more energy
Lack of experience can be a superpower. Experimentation rewards curiosity and ideas over established thinking, which is where early-career talent is strong.
On a recent episode of our podcast, Mark Johnston made the case that AI can help smaller firms expand their R&D reach. A small team can now iterate and test at a pace that used to be the domain of companies many times its size. Companies can invest more in innovation precisely because it has become cheaper.
Expanding R&D and hiring graduates is investing in your own future. When innovation is defined as what lies beyond AI’s imagination, hiring free thinkers may be the last remaining source of competitive advantage.
In closing
The “expert” at the school podium judged that the audience wanted to be entertained rather than informed. By allocating no time to address the challenges, he trivialised the concerns and aspirations of those most exposed to them.
AI is not a transformative technology because it can write marketing copy and support emails. To create a compelling story for younger audiences, businesses must look beyond superficial uses of AI and offer opportunities that truly appeal to them.
Start by prioritising meaningful problems where the tech can make a real and positive impact. Fund and mentor young people ready to start new ventures, and expand your R&D team with juniors eager to experiment and learn.
We all have agency in how we deploy AI. Young people understand that better than we do. They deserve more than gimmicks.