Challenges and Opportunities in the AI Era

In the AI era, society is changing rapidly, but primary and secondary schools have not been able to keep pace with these changes in terms of educational policies and curricula. School and the workplace are two entirely different environments. In school, students focus on attending classes, doing homework, studying hard, and achieving good grades through exams. This process is relatively simple and individualistic. If they fall behind, they can still seek help from tutors.

However, the workplace is a completely different situation. Many jobs require collaboration with others, and there are no set rules or methods to follow. When encountering difficulties, there is no tutor to ask, nor is it feasible to constantly seek help from supervisors or colleagues. In the ever-changing AI era, many data-driven jobs can already be replaced by AI. In the highly competitive job market, we young people must find our own space for survival.

The role of parents is crucial. They need to inspire and teach their children the ways of thinking and skills that cannot be learned in school, such as creativity, curiosity, confidence, passion, inner drive, adaptability, resilience, and interpersonal skills. If parents simply repeat what is taught in school and demand that their children spend excessive time after school on homework and studying, focusing solely on academic performance, their children will struggle to adapt to the broader social environment. I’ve seen many high school students with outstanding grades, some with GPAs over 4.3, yet still unable to gain admission to their dream universities. We need to recognize that universities have their own admissions criteria. Top universities do not solelyfocus on academic performance; they seek well-rounded young individuals—those with their own ideas, vision, and ideals, who contribute to society and possess ambition.

One of the biggest challenges brought by AI technology is the unknown future. Many popular professions today may disappear by the time we reach adulthood. These types of jobs are typically repetitive, highly rule-dependent, and involve standardized workflows, such as data entry clerks, customer service representatives, bank tellers, vehicle operators, factory assembly line workers, and cashiers. In their place, emerging professions will arise, such as data scientists and data analysts, AI engineers, machine learning engineers, automation and robotics specialists, cybersecurity experts, and bioinformatics experts. This means we can no longer rely solely on past learning models but must develop the ability for self-learning and innovation.

AI excels at handling repetitive, programmed tasks, but it struggles to replace human creativity, critical thinking, and emotional intelligence.The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) “2020 Future of Jobs Report” pointed out that by 2025, automation will replace 85 million jobs, but at the same time, it will create 97 million new jobs, primarily in fields that are technology, data, innovation, and interpersonal interaction-intensive.

In this context, we need the freedom to explore our interests, try new things, and grow through failure. If parents excessively interfere with our choices, we will lose the opportunity to discover our true potential. Freedom and space do not mean being left to our own devices but rather allowing us to learn independent thinking under necessary guidance, learn from mistakes, and form our own perspectives.

I hope parents can help their children discover their passions in life, so they can enter university and society with a strong sense of self-worth, knowing how to carve out their own path. They should not be overly cautious or hesitant, but instead summon courage when needed, maintain a positive and optimistic attitude, and face various challenges without fear of setbacks or failure.

Chinese Article 1 (文章1) - 人工智能世代下的挑戰和機會

在人工智能 (AI) 世代下，社會變化迅速，但中小學校未必能在教育方針和教材上趕上變化。學校和職場是兩個完全不同的環境。學生在學校專心上課，回家做功課，努力讀書，通過考試取得好成績，這個過程相對簡單且個人化。如果跟不上進度，還可以請補習老師幫忙。然而，職場是完全不同的境況，許多工作需要與他人合作，且沒有特定的做法或守則可循。遇到不明白的地方，既沒有補習老師可以請教，也不可能無止境地尋求上司或同事的幫助。在變化萬千的AI時代，許多資料型的工作已經可以被AI取代。在競爭激烈的職場上，我們年輕人必須找到自己的生存空間。

家長的角色至關重要，他們需要啟發和教導孩子在學校未必學到的思維模式和技能，例如創意、好奇心、自信，熱情，內在推動力，應變能力、抗逆能力和人際關係等。如果家長只重複學校所教的內容，要求孩子放學後花大量時間做功課、溫習，並將重點只放在學校成績上，孩子們將難以適應社會環境。我看到很多成績出眾的高中生，GPA超過4.2，卻未能進入理想的大學。我們需要知道，大學有其收生準則，頂尖的大學不僅看重學業成績，他們尋求的是全面發展的年輕人——有自己的想法、視野、理想，對社會有所貢獻並擁有抱負。

AI技術帶來的最大挑戰之一是未知的未來。許多目前流行的職業可能在我們成年後會消失， 這類職業通常是重複性、高度依賴規則、標準化的工作類型, 例如: 數據輸入員, 客戶服務員, 銀行櫃員, 交通工具操作員, 工廠流水線工人, 收銀員等。取而代之的是新興職業, 例如: 數據科學家和數據分析師, 人工智能工程師, 機器學習工程師, 自動化與機器人技術專家, 網絡安全專家, 生物信息學專家等。這意味著我們不能僅僅依賴過去的學習模式，更需要具備自主學習和創新能力。AI擅長處理重複性、程式化的工作，但它難以代替人類的創造力、批判性思維和情感智慧。世界經濟論壇（WEF） 的《2020年未來就業報告》指出，到2025年，自動化將取代8500萬個工作崗位，但同時也會創造9700萬個新工作崗位，主要集中在技術、數據、創新和人際互動密集型的領域。

在這樣的背景下，我們需要自由去探索自己的興趣、嘗試新事物，並在失敗中成長。如果父母過度干預我們的選擇，我們將失去發掘自己真正潛力的機會。自由和空間不是放任不管，而是讓我們能夠在必要的指導下學會獨立思考，從錯誤中學習，並形成自己的觀點。

我希望家長們能夠幫助孩子找到他們生命中的熱情，讓他們懷抱足夠的自我價值感踏入大學與社會，懂得如何開創自己的道路。不必過度謹慎或猶豫，應在需要時鼓起勇氣，保持積極樂觀的心態，無懼挫折與失敗，積極應對各種挑戰。

透過這個專欄，我將為大家提供一些建議和點子，探討在AI世代下，我們這代學生究竟需要什麼樣的教育。