"A few days later, I asked my six-year-old daughter, "What does ChatGPT do?" She grinned. "Mommy, it knows everything." She said it with awe. I heard it with alarm. The generation raised on AI won't just think differently; they'll lead differently. As executives rush to integrate generative tools across workplaces, we should ask: what happens when a workforce grows up never learning to struggle through a problem? The habits our children form with AI will shape the cognitive DNA of tomorrow's leaders."
"I'm a geriatric millennial, part of the generation that came of age alongside the internet, the first guinea pigs of social media. As a college student when Facebook arrived, I remember the thrill of connection, the way a dorm-room post could ripple across campus. We didn't question it. We were too busy marveling at how small the world suddenly felt. Social media arrived with dazzling promise, connection, democratization, empowerment and no guardrails. We thought we were connecting. We were really rehearsing detachment."
Children often treat AI as omniscient and accept answers without practicing the effortful problem-solving needed for cognitive development. Early reliance on generative tools can reduce opportunities to struggle, think critically, and build resilience. Rapid workplace adoption of AI risks creating leaders whose decision-making reflects habits formed by convenient automation. Technology companies prioritize speed, scale, and profit rather than childhood well-being, producing incentives misaligned with protecting development. Past social media adoption produced visible harms to attention and social life; AI poses a subtler, cognitive threat. Proactive safeguards, policy, and deliberate norms are required to protect young minds.
Read at Fortune
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