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I am sometimes thrown into the uncomfortable position of being asked to tell students how scary the future is with AI. How there won’t be jobs, for example.

I won’t do it. Not because I am unconcerned. Quite the opposite. But because students need optimism and a sense of agency in dealing with future issues.

The future is not set, and we shouldn’t pretend we know what’s going to happen. More importantly, trained helplessness is more damaging than any AI, or climate, or whatever catastrophe you think awaits.

A startup leader doesn’t tell their employees their business doesn’t have a great chance of succeeding, or that whatever they do the forces of the world will undermine their work. Chances are that company leader would be correct based on the success rates of startups.

Hope and optimism are key ingredients of passion. Of agency. Let’s not scare students. Let’s teach them how to deal with challenges. I see too much doom and gloom, and that really does rub off on students.