I Work in AI. Here’s How I’m Preparing My Kids for the Future.
Instead of banning them in schools, let's use ChatGPT and similar transformative tools to empower children
A month ago, I made a short post on LinkedIn with the above title. It blew up: 157 reactions, 70 comments, 17 reposts, and nearly 8,000 impressions. After great discussion in the comments, and having a few more ideas on the topic, I thought this would make a fitting first Substack post. So here’s a refined version, with some new additions and edits.
Because I work in AI and have two kids, people often ask me how to prepare their children—or themselves—for the future. Here’s the advice I give my kids:
Find Things You Love
AI disruption is already underway, and the future’s uncertain. But doing things you love has enduring value. It brings joy even if it doesn’t pay. That’s useful in an extreme scenario where AI automates all economically meaningful work and people live on a guaranteed income. And if that doesn’t happen? Loving what you do makes you more creative and better at it. Either way, it’s a win.
Build on Your Strengths
We shouldn’t tell kids they can do anything. We should help them figure out what they’re naturally good at—and then push them to get better at it. Compete against yourself. Don’t try to be well-rounded. Try to be excellent.
Combine Strengths to Be Unique
It’s hard to be in the top 1% at one thing. It’s easier—and still powerful—to be in the top 10% at two things that complement each other. That’s where originality comes from. AI will likely automate parts of complex roles, not whole jobs. So unique combinations will matter more, not less.
Use AI Tools to Learn—and Learn With Them
My kids use ChatGPT to build practice quizzes, review French, and explore new topics. But they don’t outsource homework to it. They work with it. That distinction matters. Just like adults in the workplace, they’re learning to collaborate with AI—amplifying their minds, not replacing them.
Be Strategic (Even If You’re Young)
It may feel early at 14 or 11 (my kids' ages), but it’s never too soon to learn strategic thinking:
Figure out what you love and are good at.
Find roles that need those skills, won’t be automated soon, and are in demand.
Learn how to succeed in those roles, and connect with people doing them.
Read and Watch Science Fiction
Science fiction deserves more respect. It opens minds, helps kids imagine different futures, encourages scenario thinking, and anticipates real technological change. Isaac Asimov wrote about AI and robotics in the 1940s, for example, influencing ethical debates to this day. HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey showed the risks of intelligent machines long before ChatGPT. Many sci-fi books, movies, and shows describe elements of a world we might soon face, if not its entirety.
Invest in a Broad Index Fund
Financial illiteracy is more dangerous than ever. If AI deepens inequality and governments don’t provide a safety net, consequences could be severe. Kids should learn early why investing matters—and why a broad index fund is the smartest, simplest strategy. AI will reshape the economy, but no one can predict how. But if a productivity boom comes, it should raise average equity values, and that’s captured by indexes and index funds. So don’t try to pick winners. Just invest steadily and widely.
Ask Your Parents to Lead (Because Schools Won't)
Finally, this one’s for us parents. Some schools are experimenting with AI. But most are slow-moving, and many treat AI as a threat—with their first instinct to ban it. So parents need to lead. That means using the technology, understanding what it can and can't do, showing our kids how to use it responsibly, encouraging them to experiment, and helping them find ways to think with it—not just copy from it. It also means setting boundaries on when to use AI.
We can’t wait for schools to figure this out. We have to model good behavior, advocate for smart use in classrooms, and help kids build the habits and mindsets they’ll need in an AI-driven world.
AI development is accelerating. I’ll likely keep adjusting my advice. But I think the above has staying power. And the good news is that I find AI use self-sustaining. Once kids start using it, they find use cases you never considered. So while you might start by guiding them on AI, don’t be surprised when they share things you had never considered.