📢 What Do We Tell Our Kids About Their Future in the Age of AI?
AI isn’t coming — it’s here, and it’s reshaping how we work, learn, and build careers. Two recent pieces — Alex Kotran’s “A Letter to Teens About AI and Jobs” and Mark Perna’s “The Top 5 AI Skills to Build Your Personal Competitive Advantage” — offer a powerful, practical roadmap for helping high school students navigate this future.
🧠 1. This Isn’t a Distant Future — It’s Now
Alex Kotran emphasizes that AI is already disrupting the job market and will only increase in impact as teens enter the workforce. Rather than sugarcoating it, he points out that we don’t know exactly what jobs will look like, but we do know that the old playbook of “study this major → secure a safe job” doesn’t apply anymore — and that uncertainty is a signal, not a barrier. alexkotran.substack.com
➡️ Message to students: It’s less about picking the “right job” and more about building the skills to adapt over a career that will change many times.
🔁 2. Learn How to Learn (and Love the Process)
A core focus in Alex’s letter is mastering the ability to learn itself — because knowledge ages faster now than ever before. Schools and programs can’t teach everything a teen might need, but they can help students become better, self-directed learners. alexkotran.substack.com
➡️ Takeaway for kids: Be curious, experiment with new tools, and practice learning on your own terms — because future jobs will expect that you learn continuously.
🤝 3. Human Skills Still Matter — Maybe Even More
Kotran stresses that once routine work gets automated, human judgment and people skills — communication, collaboration, emotional intelligence — become the real differentiators. AI may generate content and number-crunch, but it can’t navigate the friction of real human relationships. alexkotran.substack.com
➡️ Encourage teens to: join teams, take leadership roles, deal with conflict, and practice creative expression — these are human skills AI doesn’t replace.
🔧 4. AI Skills Aren’t Just for Coders
In his Forbes article, Mark Perna breaks down the top AI competencies that give people a competitive edge — and most aren’t even strict coding skills:
Prompt Engineering: Knowing how to ask the right questions of AI tools to get useful results. Forbes
AI Literacy: Understanding what AI can and can’t do, and how it fits into workflows (you don’t have to be a developer to benefit). Forbes
Adaptability: Staying open to new tools — what Perna calls a “superpower” in a rapidly evolving landscape. Forbes
Analytical Thinking: Interpreting AI outputs critically, not just accepting them at face value. Forbes
Creativity: Using AI as a springboard for new ideas rather than just a shortcut. Forbes
➡️ Practical advice: Students should experiment with AI tools wherever they show up — writing, research, design, voice assistants — and learn how to make them work for them, not just rely on them.
🚀 5. Build a Personal Competitive Advantage
Both voices stress this: being irreplaceable isn’t about beating AI at its own game — it’s about blending human creativity, judgment, and adaptability with AI fluency. Perna’s list isn’t about fringe tech skills; it’s about skills that complement AI and make you more valuable in teams and workplaces. Forbes
➡️ Actionable insight for students:
Use AI tools to enhance your projects (not just complete homework).
Practice real-world problem solving with tech.
Develop communication and leadership experience outside the classroom.
🎯 Final Message to Teens
The future of work in the age of AI isn’t a single destination — it’s a journey of continuous learning, adaptability, and human connection. AI may change what we do, but it will amplify the value of what makes us human.
Be the kind of person who learns quickly, tackles hard problems, and connects deeply with others — AI can support you, but it won’t replace those qualities.