Generation AI

Every Christmas season my kids, like millions of kids worldwide, hand me their wishlists. Some years they get quite a bit from the list, some years they don't, as every parent can relate.

This past Christmas, my tweenage son asked for an Amazon Echo powered by Alexa. Our home already had a few Echo devices and quite frankly, I find them very useful. Alexa fills our house with joyful music. Alexa answers homework questions while the kids are at the kitchen table. Alexa advises us on how to dress by giving us the daily weather, and so many other helpful interactions.

So this Christmas, I acquiesced and gave him an Echo. Within a short time, he set it up and configured it in his bedroom. Right away, he was able to turn his lights on and off and voice command content to his TV, among many other commands that required nothing more than his words.

I was astounded! This kid was so comfortable with this Artificial Intelligence technology that he was now interacting with it, in a very intuitive manner.

Hello Generation AI! For this generation will now be remembered as the demographic that was, at the onset, comfortable interacting with Artificial Intelligence as if it were a friend or acquaintance.

Generation i (as in iPhone), or those born in 1994 or later, are defined as the gen comfortable with a smartphone in hand. Their successors, Gen AI will be defined by their affinity to AI and Machine Learning. This will be the generation that is friends with the robot living in their house. In a sense, Alexa is an artificial friend to these kids. Take my kid for example. Alexa tells him kid jokes, answers his riddles and puts him to bed with a story, all at his behest.

As these platforms become more intelligent, which will occur as they interact more and more in our homes, the level of comfort will only grow. In addition, as Gen AI grows into adults, interacting with machines as if they were human, will easily become second nature.

This next generation of kids are ushering in a new future, and AI will be play a large part in it.

Mark Anthony Torres is a seasoned global technology expert with nearly 20 years of industry experience. He can be found at www.markanthonytorres.com