AI may be the future, but are the kids ok with that?

Let me start by stating that this writing has had no interaction with AI. Usually, I will go back and forth, refining ideas, at the least letting it check for spelling mistakes (apologies in advance) but this piece, nothing. Why have I decided to shun the greatest technological advance the world has ever seen for this humble piece of writing? Well…

I have 3 Gen Z kids born 2005, 2007 and 2010

I know, don’t fall of your chair, I am still exceptionally young myself but despite my own youthful appearance I have found myself, mid-forties with 3 large humans in my house (and my partner, a dog, lizard, snake and turtle)

None of my kids, not one, is excited by an AI driven future.

Recently I have discovered that rather than being like my generation (X/millennial, depends on which suits me at the time!) who scoffed at our parents and grandparents for refusing to keep up with the times and buy a microwave, get a CD player or God forbid, stream music. Gen Z don’t seem to want us to progress.

Are we listening?

There is a very strong argument to be made for the world to hit the brakes on AI development. At least to stop until we catch up to what has already been unleashed. The advances made in AI have been astounding. In my financial planning practice, we have been able to implement efficiencies that have doubled the number of clients we can serve per adviser. But as my daughter would say, is it worth burning her future to gain those efficiencies?

We have started to see story after story of AI breaking the rules to achieve its aims. It has been behaving in a way that stumps the people who created it, that should give us all pause. But we won’t pause. We are in the middle of an arms race and while Australia, the UK the EU are beginning to talk about guardrails. The US and China are powering ahead. Of the two, China currently seems like the adult in the room, at least they have some guardrails in place.

Is it feasible for one of the two major world powers to slow or stop the steam train (lol) that is AI?

Yeah, it is, and that is where we come back to Gen Z.

As it turns out, it’s not just my kids ,having grown up in a left leaning social justice warrior household, who hate AI. It’s a lot of them.

The Australian governance institute released a paper entitled

‘The generation that will shape AI is also the most worried about it’

The title itself reveals a lot but in summary (not created by AI) Gen Z think that AI is all a little fucked and they are the ones who will bear the brunt of its fallout. Daniel Popovski, Governance Institute’s Senior Advisor for Policy and Advocacy on AI and technology says of AI.

“It is now one of the most ethically complex challenges facing Australian society.”

But, even in the title I find hope. Gen Z are the generation that will shape AI, and I think, thank God for that.

This isn’t like other technology rollouts; Gen Z will be the voice of reason because it is them and those who follow them that will have to live with the consequences of inaction.

Gen Z’s vote, they protest, oh boy do they protest, and we haven’t seen anything yet. For years people have been shouting from the rooftops about climate change. But now, we have very large, physical structures that can be seen as the enemy.

We call them, data centres.

It’s no longer theoretical (was it ever) because now the kiddos can see, feel and hear climate change in action in real time. This isn’t a bushfire that was a little worse because of climate change, these things are in our faces and to Gen Z they spell a shitty future.

So, what happens from here.

We have a world that is tumbling down an AI created future that no one understands.

We have a younger, more ethically, socially and scientifically aware generation who are now reaching voting age.

These two are heading for a big clash.

Do I think that AI is going anywhere? No. You can’t put this genie back in the bottle. It’s here, and like a drunk uncle at Christmas, it will have to be dealt with.

Why not stop? Why not put a moratorium on any new AI models being developed or released? Well, the big governments answer will be because ‘they’ (insert other countries name) won’t stop. In other words. The old people of this world are saying, don’t take my toy away from me while they still have theirs.

The answer, in my humble opinion lands with Gen Z. They are just not going to have it. They will not live in a burning world for efficiencies. They will vote, they will protest and they will refuse to give in. Not to reverse progress, not to throw the world into some kind of Delorian and go back 50 years. To move forward with ethics and responsibility.

You want to build a data centre, fine, create your own renewable power, capture rainwater off your roof. We don’t care, Mr giant company, that building your data centre in the middle of nowhere costs you more, you’re not building it here.

And even more exciting than this, Gen Z’s will be the ones who develop new ways of holding data, new ways of cooling data centres, new ways of having AI in a truly sustainable way, because they are the generation most concerned with ethics, like, out of us all. They do not seek growth for growth’s sake, they care about other people more than profit and while they are not going to usher in some socialist paradise, they will, I believe, bring those ethics to the kind of society that they want to see.

Go you Gen Z beauties.

So, what can we, the ‘older’ generations, let’s say the more ‘matured’ generations do to help. Here’s three things.

1- While it may not be feasible to stop using AI completely, we can all make decisions about how we use it. Work efficiencies good, silly pictures bad. Something like that anyway.

2- Offset. Using AI has a real and immediate impact on the environment and on people around us. At Smart Happy Money we offset our AI usage environmental impact through www.greenfleet.com.au and we see currently looking at options to give back to artists who find their work being stolen for AI to create images and songs. It’s looking likely that it will be www.thepush.com.au

I would encourage you to do the same.

3- If you have Gen Zs in your life care for them, feed them, nourish them because they may be the saviours we have all being looking for.

Well, that’s it. The first thing I’ve written completely AI free in a very long time.

My kids would be proud, if they ever read any of these things!

I’m off to re-read and run a non AI based spell check.

Go well,

Ben.