I'll be giving a TEDx talk in February at École Mission Secondary, on digital sustainability and the missing piece of AI and tech literacy. I'm 17. The audience is mostly going to be teenagers. That fact is the talk.
The argument.
Most adult-led conversations about AI in schools fall into two camps: a sales pitch ("look at all the homework you can do faster!") or a panic ("you'll never think for yourself again"). Both treat young people as objects of policy. Neither treats them as the people who'll have to live with the technology longest.
The talk I want to give starts somewhere different, with what AI actually costs. The energy used to train a model. The water used to cool the data centres. The attention used by the systems built around the model. The trust used up when generative content fills the public record. Once you've named those costs, you can have a real conversation. Without them, you're just choosing a vibe.
What I'm hoping to leave them with.
- A useful frame: every tool has a cost, every cost has a payer, and the payer is sometimes you.
- A small habit: ask "what does this ask of me that I didn't agree to?" before you commit to a tool.
- A piece of permission: you are allowed to be the one in the room who pushes back.
You are allowed to be the one in the room who pushes back.
If you'll be there.
If you're attending the event, or if you're a teacher anywhere in Canada doing this work and want to compare notes on how to talk about AI with teenagers honestly, say hi at me [at] gabrieldalton.com. I'll post a follow-up after the talk.
I have now given the talk. Watch the talk and read the full transcript.