Using AI as a Launch Pad for Student Creativity (Full Transcript)

[00:00:03] Speaker 1: Let's start with a question. What do you want to be one day, a writer, a gamer, an astronaut? From a young age, I was fascinated by biology. So I became a science teacher to share that passion. I spent my days with microscopes and experiments. I never imagined I would end up teaching coding and AI. Learning how to code and working with AI has changed how I think and how I learn. But more importantly, it has changed what my students can create in the classroom. Careers have always changed. But today, AI is accelerating that change faster than ever before. Your future job might not even exist yet, which means you get to help invent it. Think about that for a second. Jobs like AI trainer, AI game developer, and AI safety architect didn't exist a few years ago. And the people doing those jobs today, they didn't start as experts. They started by being curious. They tried things, broke things, and learned as they went. Now imagine this. You have an idea, maybe a game, an app, or something that helps your community. You can actually build it. People and students like you are already using AI as their creative partner to bring ideas like this to life. Building games, designing apps, launching startups, tackling climate change, and even solving problems no one else has figured out yet. So how does this relate to coding? This is what I tell my students. Coding is not going away because of AI. But what has changed is the speed. Today's tools let us build faster, test more ideas, and improve continuously. Using AI still means thinking clearly, asking better questions, and learning from mistakes. That is training your brain to think like an entrepreneur, not outsourcing your thinking. AI is powerful, but the responsibility does not belong to the tool. It belongs to us. AI can be wrong. It can reflect bias and miss important details. And when that happens, human judgment has to lead. So here are three things I want you to keep in mind to ensure that you're using AI responsibly and ethically. One, AI is your launch pad, not a skip button. It can help you start faster, but the learning still needs to happen in your brain. Two, the idea is yours. You bring the curiosity, the judgment, and the direction. And AI, it will bring the speed, the scale, and the support. And number three, be a thoughtful creator. When you use AI to build something, you should always ask, am I making sure my tool actually helps someone? Am I being honest about what I created versus what AI helped me to create? The most important skill you can develop is learning how to use your endless creativity and the tools together to make something amazing and honest. If you've ever thought, hmm, I wish I could make this, or I have a cool idea but don't really know where to start, let AI be your launch pad. And today, you will see what that looks like in action from students, experts, and real examples. So enjoy the day, stay curious, dream big, and build something that matters.