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The future is technology. The future is A.I. It’s shaping industries while transforming how we communicate and how we learn. In Milwaukee, there’s a new summer program showing those capabilities — and more — to the young minds in our community.
A.I. Academy is teaching a group of sixth through eighth graders how they can benefit from this technological leap, as well as how it can fuel entrepreneurship. With hands-on lessons that use platforms like ChatGPT, the students learn topics like the fundamentals of data science.
“Although it might be like, ‘Oh, we’re not going to use this in the future,’ it’s still a skill we should at least learn,” program participant Mitzy Bella Mercedes said. “So then if we are like, ‘I don’t really know what to do, what have I done already? …’ people can look back at this class and be like, ‘Hey, I worked on A.I.’”
They’re also working on financial literacy, an area getting increased attention from companies in the industry like Associated Bank, which provides support for A.I. Academy. As students further their participation in the program, they earn “AB Bucks” that incentivize their interests as they gain practical skills.
“When I went around and looked at a lot of, not only just this age group but high school students, you’ll be surprised how many didn’t know how to balance a checkbook, simple financial literacy about what is a CD account, what is the importance of that, what are dividends,” Associated Bank senior vice president and A.I. director Phil Bailey said.
The Wisconsin-based company is a program partner with the Milky Way Tech Hub, a company focused on making Milwaukee a nucleus for Black people and people of color to thrive in technology.
“I work with start-ups regularly, and even adults have a difficult time taking their brilliant ideas to the next level. It’s scary,” Milky Way Tech Hub founder and CEO Nadiyah Johnson said. “And so, early on, I think it’s important to teach youth the importance that their ideas are valuable and also teaching them they don’t necessarily always have to depend on different systems. They can depend on their own knowledge base.”
Listen to the full episode to hear more from the program’s organizers, as well as the students as they explain how they got involved, why it’s important to their future, and why they were even a little skeptical about bringing A.I. into their education.
