Who Are You? It's the Question That Holds the Answer to Working with AI
How successful each of us is with integrating AI tools into our lives starts with understanding who we think we are. It's also the way to protect kids from the more challenging, unknown aspects of AI.
With AI everywhere, and our growing concerns about kids’ digital wellbeing, it's tempting to simply tune out and avoid the conversation altogether. But the antidote is actually simple and empowering: We need to pay attention, talk about technology, stay connected to who we are as humans, and identify what makes us unique.
Helping kids develop their personal voice is one of the most powerful ways to help them learn to work with AI technology effectively.
This week, I focus on how to help kids cultivate the type of ‘personal voice’ that makes AI a powerful tool, not a shameful crutch.
In the newsletter today:
Beyond AI Detectors: Teaching Kids to Write with Personal Voice
How to Identify When AI is Causing Emotional Angst
News You Can Use This Week
From the Archive: Highlights from FromAtoSHE®
Beyond AI Detectors: Teaching Kids to Write with Personal Voice
We're wasting far too much time trying to resist AI's inevitable integration into our lives. This doesn't mean we shouldn't be thoughtful about introducing AI into the classroom or advocating for age-appropriate use—but AI is here to stay.
What's also counterproductive is allowing entire industries to profit from our anxiety. Case in point: AI detectors. Rather than focusing on 'catching' kids using AI, we should be investing our energy in helping kids discover who they are as authentic individuals and writers.
Check out my list of ways to help teens identify and cultivate their personal voice—essential groundwork for using AI responsibly, and productively, in their school work.
How to Identify When AI is Causing Emotional Angst
When dealing with technology's darker side, we often focus on obvious threats while missing emerging dangers. It's not just social media anymore, we're now navigating AI chatbots that feel unnervingly human, deepfake pornography, and AI-generated 'slop' flooding the internet with distorted, bizarre content that's somehow still compelling. Add fake news, synthetic people, and entirely fabricated content to the mix. It's overwhelming to kids and adults.
So what can parents do? Talk about it. This sounds simple, but we all know how challenging it can be to try to engage in undirected conversations with our children. Ask your kids to show you what they're seeing online, what it means to them, and how it makes them feel. Make this a journey of discovery you take together. Here are some issues to keep on the radar right now:
Staying vigilant about how deepfakes disproportionately target girls
Thinking about what data gets shared when using sensitive online services
Building emotional resilience is also a key skill for navigating these challenges. You can download this helpful resource sheet I created with Karen Herbert of Right Mindset Therapy.
News You Can Use This Week
📱Google unveiled a host of AI-integrated tools at its developer conference. Before getting excited, everyone should examine the details and decide for themselves whether the benefits are worth it.
📲 While we're consumed with debates about kids and phones, let's remember the discussion should really be about ‘devices’—especially since OpenAI's partnership with famed Apple hardware designer Jony Ive's business is going to change everything.
🙄 News you don't need: Watch out for the steady stream of clickbait that will fry your brain, like "A majority of GenZ would marry an AI." All jokes and eye rolls aside, this kind of sensational content distracts us from the AI news that actually matters for families.
From the Archive: Highlights from FromAtoSHE®
Finally, this week, I explore more in-depth questions about AI and human identity, particularly how technology intersects with caregiving and our evolving understanding of ability on @fromatoshe. These conversations around inclusivity and AI feel essential as technology reshapes support systems.
This week's piece examines AI, women, and caregiving needs within this broader context of changing ability—I hope you'll give it a read and consider subscribing if this perspective resonates with you.
Have a wonderful holiday weekend!