Generation Alpha: The next generation of collaborative intelligence

Please enjoy the first in a series of articles written by the next generation on AI. Listening to their experiences now is a key mechanism to building sensible and sustainable programs for the future.

By Sanah Goenka and Ami Bhatt.

As we entered the Girls Inc. building in Worcester Massachusetts, we were greeted by a flurry of engaged, intelligent, and curious young girls. Our visit was a chance to expose these grade school children to Artificial Intelligence in a workshop format. Girls Inc. is a nonprofit organization that empowers young girls, and we were struck by how the environment radiated positivity and confidence from the moment we entered.

In the workshop, we discussed the use of AI in our day-to-day lives as well as the range of AI uses in healthcare. The girls learned how to distinguish machine learning from generative AI and participated in navigating and curating questions for best-fit answers. We developed algorithms through a fun exercise where the students simulated how to code algorithms to assess patterns for training so that the AI comes to the correct conclusions.

As we surveyed the girls, asking for examples of AI in their lives, we immediately heard “chatGPT,” “TikTok,” and “Instagram.” We recognized that this was a crucial age group to engage because they are growing up with AI all around them, unlike most of us who feel this is a relatively new concept. We were surprised to realize that while Generation Z is digitally enabled, Generation Alpha subconsciously works as coders. From their exposure to the internet as young kids, they already have experience with prompt generation, a skill many adults learn later in their careers. In our prompt refining exercise, the girls were experienced in finding precisely what they were looking for using nuanced questions with ease and speed.

This skill of navigating technology is crucial to working collaboratively with artificial intelligence. Although adults are learning to integrate AI into their careers and lives, that learning doesn’t come quickly. In the case of Generation Alpha, through internet exposure, they have gradually developed critical thinking and problem-solving skills that they can apply at a high level in the future. This generation has only lived in a world where AI is prominent. While these children are conditioned to consider AI often, it is still our responsibility to guide them in integrating it safely and applying it ethically. Given its prominence, for this generation, AI is a great tool, but it also poses a larger threat: it is essential they understand what AI is, how it works, and most importantly, what it can and cannot do rather than accepting it as something that exists. AI is revolutionizing our professional and day-to-day lives; however, it is still evolving and growing. Generation Alpha is growing alongside it. With their innate questioning and reasoning skills and a formal understanding of AI and its varied capabilities, this generation will not only be ahead of the curve, they will also set the pace for using collaborative intelligence to a degree beyond anything we have seen yet.

The ACC has long promoted the concept of collaborative intelligence: the understanding that we are responsible for the inputs to AI and fair interpretation of the outputs to together become more intelligent. For these kids, this translates to articulating the right questions as the most crucial part of AI. If you cannot ask the right questions, how can you possibly achieve the right answers? The grade school children at Girls Inc. inherently understood that AI is not a replacement for human morals, experience, emotions, and connections. They see it as a tool that requires human input and aptitude, defining their own version of collaborative intelligence. Whereas we led an AI workshop to educate these children, the education was ours. With AI becoming increasingly prominent in every field, these girls, in whatever career they will pursue, are already primed to carefully and effectively excel with AI.?

Sanah Goenka is a junior at Wellesley High School in Massachusetts. She has interned with ACC CIO Dr. Ami Bhatt and is excited to share her experiences in educating the next generation of AI users.