How are you using AI?

Lincoln said his teachers largely aren’t instructing students on how to use AI, although its use in the classroom is encouraged. He’s made a point of learning how to use the technology outside of school.

“I use AI to better understand different facets of an issue ... I've used it for religious questions before to understand different denominations of my faith,” he said.

Has AI forced you to rethink your career plans?

While AI hasn’t changed Lincoln’s goal to pursue a career in business or politics, he understands the path to success might look different. “If you want to be competitive in a space, you have to be on top of AI,” he said.

In a mock legislative activity, Lincoln used AI to help write a proposed bill to present to his classmates. “I'm seeing what (AI) might look like in my future career,” he said.

Big picture, how are you thinking about what AI could mean for the future?

Lincoln said his outlook on AI, and that of his classmates, is not entirely rosy. He worries about being able to tell computer-generated content apart from human-created material and how easily photos can be manipulated using AI.

“The social impact of if someone were to take like my face or a picture of me and edit it using AI ... That's really concerning because that impacts my daily life and social life.”

How are you using AI?

Savilla first used AI in school when her history teacher encouraged the class to ask AI for feedback on their essays. Many of Savilla's peers use AI for assistance with classwork in other ways, but she mostly avoids it. She feels there’s a “slippery slope” between using AI as a tool versus using it “do to things for us.”

“I just think nothing good can come of that for our generation," she said. "I think if we let it do things for us, like write, for us, it's not only killing our creativity, but also our critical thinking skills.”

Has AI forced you to rethink your career plans?

Savilla hopes to pursue a career as a professional performer. But the emergence of artificial intelligence has raised questions about how the field could evolve in the coming years.

"My concern is for acting because there was that issue with using actors’ faces and voices for AI,” Savilla said. “Especially seeing how much AI visual art has been used, and that it’s putting actual artists out of work who are already struggling enough ... I hate it.”

Big picture, how are you thinking about what AI could mean for the future?

Looking ahead to college, Savilla wonders what her desire to learn the old-fashioned way will mean for her academic standing compared to other students.

“Those of us who choose not to use it at all, it can sometimes feel unfair to be like, ‘I'm writing this essay. I'm working super hard at this,'” she said. “And then other people use it to write their essay for them and they get a really good grade."

How are you using AI?

Karissa estimates that 90% of students at her Silicon Valley-area high school, herself included, use AI to help with homework or studying. She finds that AI tools can serve as a digital tutor — walking her through how to understand a concept, in a way that students might previously have had to scour Google search results or turn to YouTube for.

One classmate she spoke with estimated it reduced their homework time from two hours to 30 minutes. "Many students view homework as an obstacle before you could have fun and hang out with friends and all that, so from their perspective, it tends to be positive.”

Karissa also used AI to help decide which colleges to apply to. She provided a rubric of qualifications, like location and the quality of faculty, and a chatbot provided a ranked list of schools that would be a good fit.

Has AI forced you to rethink your career plans?

Some of Karissa’s classmates are now planning to pursue jobs they consider to be more “AI proof,” such as in health care, she said. And while she hopes to work in the business field, Karissa said she’s keeping her options open “because I don't know how AI will fully displace or not displace those jobs.”

Big picture, how are you thinking about what AI could mean for the future?

“Whether we see the good or bad in it, we know it's going to impact the way we live,” Karissa said. "I think many teens are concerned about AI's impact on employment as a whole."