Preparing Our Future for AI
Introduction
The educational systems have failed us for the future of Artificial Intelligence. Students aren’t being taught the basics of AI and how it will benefit their future. Besides engineering students, most of the student population is left to fend for themselves when dealing with technology. Most people that have already completed school are leaving with no education in AI and feel unprepared for what’s to come. I created a survey on SurveyMonkey and posting it in my Facebook page, hoping to show this trend.
Research
My first question asked them a range for their ages. 20% of the respondents were ages 18–21, 40% of them were ages 22–30, 22.5% were ages 31–40, and the rest of the respondents were ages 41 and older at 17.5%. The next question asked how comfortable they were with using technology. Almost 50% said they were very good with technology and only 30% said they were terrible. The rest of the respondents answered average at around 23%. My third question was, have you ever worked with AI. Almost 88% answered “no” while the rest answered “yes”. The last question asked how prepared they felt for AI. Only 10% felt like they were prepared for AI while almost 53% said they weren’t prepared. Almost 38% said they were somewhat prepared for the rise of AI in the future.
Analysis
This means most of the answers were produced by people ages 18–21 and the rest of them were pretty even around 20%. With technology being almost everywhere we look I wasn’t surprised that almost 50% said they were excellent at using it, but it shocked me that 30% of people when asked said they were terrible at technology. I predicted more people would be average at technology then terrible at it. The most surprising answer of all was that almost 88% of people have never worked with Artificial Intelligence. I don’t think people realize what AI even is or what people use it for. But what is the most alarming statistic found when doing this survey is that only 10% of people thought they were prepared for our future with AI. That means people don’t have the overall knowledge needed to understand AI with over 53% saying they weren’t prepared for it.
Conclusion
This study shows that the educational system for years now has not been preparing us for Artificial Intelligence. Although people are well equipped with technology skills, they lack the overall understanding of what AI is. After getting an education people are sent out to the world feeling unprepared for their future working with AI. Since they never got taught the basic functions of AI people will find themselves more lost as AI continues to progress. If something isn’t done to our educational systems fast, then there is a major concern for the future working with Artificial Intelligence.
