Final week, I discovered myself hunched over my laptop computer at 10 p.m. (hey, that’s late for me!), wrestling with a coding drawback. After hours of frustration, I stepped away and made a cup of tea. Once I returned, I did what any self-respecting technologist in 2025 would do: I backtracked, reformulated my query, and requested ChatGPT for assist.
I’m continuously requested questions like “Ought to my youngsters study to code?” and “What abilities do they really want on this AI world?” I’m wondering about this too. I imply, if AI can now write code higher than most people, ought to we nonetheless be educating youngsters to do it? How will we put together them for the longer term, particularly as issues are shifting so shortly?
Maybe counterintuitively, this AI revolution would possibly make a liberal arts training extra invaluable. A poetry main learns specific humanity. A historian learns classes from the previous. A philosophy scholar learns to query assumptions and moral frameworks. These timeless human abilities grow to be much more essential as AI handles the technical heavy lifting. With these foundational skills to grasp and specific the human situation, what’s doable with creativity turns into boundless.
The Finish of Coding Is the Starting of Drawback-Fixing
As AI begins writing code, we’re coming into what my pal Tim O’Reilly calls “the top of programming as we all know it.” We’ve gone from punch playing cards to meeting language to C, Python, and JavaScript—and now we’re simply telling computer systems what to do in plain language. That shift opens the door for extra individuals to form expertise. The longer term isn’t about understanding code; it’s about understanding what to construct and why.
Stanford researchers, together with Noah Goodman (who’s each a pc scientist and a psychologist finding out human cognition), just lately revealed a fascinating paper analyzing how totally different AI methods method problem-solving.
What makes Goodman’s perspective so invaluable is his twin experience in how minds, each human and synthetic, work. His paper reveals that the considering patterns that make sure AI methods extra profitable mirror these of efficient human problem-solvers: Essentially the most profitable methods confirm their work, backtrack when caught, break massive issues into manageable subgoals, and work backward from desired outcomes.
It’s a profound discovery: The talents that make people efficient problem-solvers will stay invaluable no matter how AI evolves. It made me understand that these cognitive behaviors—not coding syntax—are what we needs to be nurturing in our youngsters.
5 Important Expertise Youngsters Want (Greater than Coding)
I’m not saying we shouldn’t educate youngsters to code. It’s a helpful ability. However these are the 5 true foundations that can serve them no matter how expertise evolves.
1. Loving the journey, not simply the vacation spot
When homework appears unattainable or a LEGO construction collapses for the fifth time, it’s simple for teenagers to get discouraged. However educating them that setbacks are studying alternatives builds the bounce-back capacity they’ll want in a quickly altering world. The capability to soak up real setbacks and proceed ahead—discovering one thing new even after they don’t attain their preliminary purpose—is perhaps the one most necessary ability we are able to nurture in our youngsters.
Growing a love of studying helps them to see powerful issues as fascinating puzzles fairly than scary roadblocks. This doesn’t simply apply to educational topics. Real curiosity concerning the world prepares youngsters to adapt constantly. Essentially the most profitable individuals I do know aren’t those that memorized probably the most details or mastered one particular ability; they’re those who stayed curious and saved going by means of fixed change.
We regularly discuss intrinsic motivation as a prerequisite for studying, nevertheless it’s additionally a muscle you construct by means of the training course of. As youngsters deal with challenges and expertise the satisfaction of overcoming them, they’re not simply fixing issues; they’re growing the motivation to deal with the subsequent one.
2. Being a question-asker, not simply an answer-getter
While you’re a scholar, you’re judged by how properly you reply questions.…However in life, you’re judged by how good your questions are.—Robert Langer, MIT Professor and Cofounder of Moderna
Anybody can ask AI for solutions. Those that ask considerate questions will get probably the most from it. Good questions stem from understanding what you don’t know, being clear about what you’re actually searching for, and framing them in a approach that results in significant solutions.
Probably the most highly effective metaskills we might help youngsters develop is self-awareness about their very own studying fashion. Some are project-based learners who must construct one thing with the intention to perceive it. Others study by means of dialog, writing, visualization, or educating others. When a baby discovers how their mind works greatest, they will method any new topic by means of the lens that works for them, turning what might need been a battle right into a pure course of.
When a baby asks, “Why is the sky blue?,” they’re doing one thing highly effective: noticing patterns, questioning what others take without any consideration, and looking for deeper understanding. Youngsters who study to ask good questions will direct the world fairly than be directed by it. They’ll know break massive issues into solvable items—an method that works in any subject.
3. Attempting, failing, and making an attempt in a different way
When fixing issues, scientists don’t transfer ahead in a straight line. They make guesses, take a look at them, and sometimes uncover they have been unsuitable. Then they use that data to make higher guesses. This try-learn-adjust loop is one thing all profitable problem-solvers use, whether or not they’re fixing code or determining life.
When one thing doesn’t work as anticipated—together with an AI-generated reply—youngsters want to determine what went unsuitable after which attempt totally different approaches. This implies getting comfy with saying issues like “Let me attempt a distinct approach” or “That didn’t work as a result of…”
Whether or not they’re troubleshooting a tool or navigating on a regular basis challenges, this mindset helps them method issues with confidence fairly than giving up.
4. Seeing the entire image
The most important challenges we at the moment face, from local weather change to healthcare, require understanding how totally different items join and affect one another. This “big-picture considering” applies equally to on a regular basis conditions, similar to understanding why a classroom will get noisy or why a household finances doesn’t steadiness.
This mindset is about recognizing patterns and understanding how altering one factor impacts all the pieces else. It helps us anticipate unintended penalties and create options that truly work.
After we educate youngsters to see connections fairly than remoted details, we put together them to deal with issues that AI alone can’t clear up. They grow to be administrators fairly than followers, in a position to mix human wants with technological prospects.
5. Strolling in others’ footwear
In my latest op-ed for the Chicago Tribune, I argued that effectivity and empathy aren’t opposing forces. They want one another. This precept is particularly necessary as we elevate the subsequent technology.
Know-how with out human understanding results in options that may look good on paper however neglect the actual individuals they’re meant to assist. I’ve seen this firsthand in authorities methods that course of individuals effectively however fail to acknowledge their dignity and distinctive conditions.
Youngsters who develop deep empathy will create applied sciences that actually serve humanity fairly than simply serving statistics. They’ll ask not solely “Can we construct this?” however “Ought to we construct this, and who will it assist or hurt?” They’ll do not forget that behind each information level is a human story, and that probably the most significant improvements are people who strengthen our connections to at least one one other.
The Actual Future: Amplifying Human Creativity
These 5 abilities converge in what I see as probably the most thrilling side of our AI-augmented future: democratized creation. As extra individuals achieve the flexibility to form expertise, even with out conventional coding abilities, we’ll see an explosion of native, purpose-driven options.
As I just lately wrote, I helped put collectively ai/teenagers, the primary world AI convention for and by teenagers. I needed to study from the primary AI-native technology, which intuitively understands expertise’s potential in methods many adults don’t.
Think about a world the place younger individuals not solely use expertise however actively form it to resolve issues of their communities, designing accessibility instruments for buddies with disabilities, creating platforms that join native assets with those that want them, or constructing instructional experiences tailor-made to totally different studying kinds.
This future isn’t about AI changing human creativity; it’s about amplifying it, making it doable for extra individuals to carry their distinctive views and options to life.
Let’s Construct This Future Collectively!
The great thing about this method—specializing in resilience, questioning, adaptation, methods considering, and empathy—is that it really works no matter how expertise evolves. Essentially the most technologically superior future nonetheless wants individuals who can embrace challenges, ask significant questions, study constantly, see connections, and perceive one another.
In some ways, we’re returning to the perfect of a classical training for the AI age. These abilities kind a contemporary trivium—not grammar, logic, and rhetoric however maybe curiosity, creativity, and compassion—foundational skills that unlock all different studying and doing.
Let’s work on this as a group! I’m crowdsourcing concepts, actions, and approaches that assist develop these important abilities. What different abilities do you suppose we must always give attention to? I’m wanting to study with all of you.
