What a powerful insight about Gen AI adoption by Clara Hawking via Linked In:

The reality is that without informed leadership, a clear strategy, and AI governance, without a deliberate framework covering the legal, regulatory, human, and ethical dimensions of AI, any so-called adoption is nothing more than costly experimentation with a side of legal exposure.

This is true for schools, as well as companies that Clara was referring to in her Linked In post.

Question Answer Bot

A close relation is headed off to another country (no family around) for university studies. Wouldn’t it be cool if she had a bot to answer all her questions about that space, without having to rely on imperfect sources of information?

She had so many questions that I realized could easily be answered by a Gen AI. But someone had told her GenAI was bad, to not use it. So, she didn’t. Of course, I immediately set out to open her eyes to the nuances of Gen AI use.

I asked, “You know you can get answers about your questions via GenAI. You really haven’t used it?” Her response, “I have only used free AI tools.”

AI as a Road Service Helper

This made me think, “Wow, let me sign you up for a BoodleBox account. Protect your data, get access to multiple models, and show you some prompt design tips.” So, I pulled out my credit card and set her up with an account. I thought it worthwhile because when you’re all alone on the side of the road, it’s nice to have road service.

Whether she uses it for anything else, she at least has something to ask questions and begin the process of finding answers to questions in a strange place.

As I think back to Clara’s point, I recognize that if schools don’t have a plan to encourage competence in the use of digital tools like Gen AI, then it falls upon students to figure it out all on their own. And, I have to ask myself, “Would my parents have sent me off without some tutoring on the latest tools, or would they have made the effort to get me some help?”

The answer is, “Of course they would have done all they could to prepare me, to equip me for the unknown ahead.” Then I remember the inner city youth who live across the street from their school…in a homeless shelter.

Why aren’t we equipping our high school students going off to college or life? Or even those who will start work upon reaching the age they can make money?