Putting People at the Center of Progress
Reflections from a year immersed in AI and what it revealed about learning, policy, and human progress.
When artificial intelligence dominates the news cycle, the spotlight often lands on breakthroughs, risks, and regulations. But the deeper story has never been about the systems themselves. It is about people. It is about how we learn, how we adapt, and how we hold on to meaning in a world where technology is becoming a constant companion.
The recent launch of Lumina Foundation’s Humanity AI initiative brings that truth into sharp focus. With a five-year, $500 million commitment, Humanity AI reframes the national dialogue by placing human well-being, dignity, and opportunity at the center. As someone who has spent my career translating complex technology into practical solutions, this mission resonates. Technology should help communities breathe. It should not outpace the capacity of individuals, especially children, to understand it.
A National Investment in Human Potential
Announced in October 2025, Humanity AI is the most significant philanthropic investment yet in shaping an equitable AI future. Its goal is both ambitious and necessary: prepare the nation for a workforce transformed by intelligent tools and ensure people can thrive in that transition.
Lumina’s data is sobering. By 2032, an estimated 18.4 million experienced workers will retire, while only 13.8 million similarly educated younger workers will enter the pipeline. The country’s economic mobility and the stability of entire communities depend on how quickly individuals can adapt to technological change.
Humanity AI centers three critical priorities:
Evidence-driven research on AI’s influence on work and wages
Worker advocacy that ensures people shape how technology enters their workplaces
Collaboration between technologists, educators, and labor leaders to build inclusive governance
The through-line is clear. Intelligent progress requires human literacy, not only technical capability. Opportunity depends on the ability to understand, interpret, and question the systems that increasingly influence our daily lives.
What Children Already Know About AI
If the future depends on people, it begins with young people.
New research from the University of Washington, presented at the 2025 IDC Conference, offers a window into how children picture AI “thinking.” Through colorful, puzzle-based exercises built from datasets used to test real models, researchers identified three mental models children rely on:
Inherent thinking: AI is brilliantly innovative and knows the answers
Deductive thinking: AI follows rules written by humans
Inductive thinking: AI learns by finding patterns in data
By seventh grade, most students can explain that AI systems learn from examples rather than magic or rigid commands. Still, meaningful gaps remain. Many struggle to connect coding with data, or to transfer their understanding across different types of AI systems. And they are often taught from classroom materials that evolve far more slowly than the technology they interact with every day.
These gaps matter. Not because children need to master algorithms, but because they deserve clarity. They deserve tools that help them understand how technology works, where it falls short, and how it reflects human choices.
How AI Supports Cognitive Growth
Another recent study from Pakistan, published in 2025, explored how AI-based tools influence cognitive development. The findings were consistent with long-standing insights about childhood learning. Students ages six to eight showed the strongest gains in problem-solving, memory, and flexible thinking. Children ages nine to twelve followed closely. Adults benefited as well, though to a lesser extent.
The explanation is intuitive. Young brains have greater cognitive plasticity, and interactive tools that provide immediate feedback align with how children naturally learn.
The study also offered a caution that matters for anyone working in this field. When children rely too heavily on AI tools, curiosity and independent reasoning can weaken. Outsourcing too much thinking carries a cost.
This nuance is what ultimately pushed me to write a children’s book.
Wellness in a High-Tech Age
Humanity AI’s central argument is that progress depends on human well-being, not simply technical capability. That includes the cognitive environments we create for children. The pace of AI adoption has blurred boundaries for families, and children absorb those patterns quickly. Digital wellness becomes part of how we protect their ability to think clearly, learn deeply, and sustain curiosity. It is not a counterpoint to AI innovation. It is part of the same ecosystem of care.
This past year made that truth personal for me. As I became more and more immersed in learning about AI, I was also noticing how technology shaped my own attention and pace. That tension informed the book I eventually wrote. Children deserve clarity about intelligent tools, but they also deserve environments that support curiosity rather than overwhelm it. Digital wellness became part of my creative philosophy because I realized that understanding AI is only half the story. The other half is learning how to stay present and grounded in a world that keeps getting faster.
Why a Children’s Book Became My Contribution
My career has centered on making complex ideas accessible. This year, as I spent more time with AI policy, governance, and human-centered design, one question stayed with me:
How do we give the next generation the literacy they need without overwhelming them?
Writing a children’s book became my answer. Not because children need more rules or more screens, but because they need clarity wrapped in story. They need developmentally aligned explanations that make technology feel understandable rather than intimidating.
In my book, DIGIT: The Smart Garden, AI is not a miracle and not a threat. It is a tool shaped by people. When children see technology through that lens, they grow into wiser decision-makers who understand when, where, and why a tool should be used.
The Future We Choose
Left unchecked, intelligent systems can narrow access and concentrate advantage. Guided with care, they can broaden opportunity and strengthen communities.
Humanity AI represents a national commitment to a more equitable future. My contribution draws on years spent building technology that translates complexity into tools people can actually use. Today, that work extends into early learning and digital literacy, where I hope to help young people understand that technology reflects human choices and that they have agency in shaping what comes next.
The path forward belongs to all of us. Progress will not be measured by what machines achieve, but by how people flourish in the world we build alongside them.
Citations
Lumina Foundation, Humanity AI Initiative (2025).
University of Washington, IDC Conference Presentations: Children’s AI Mental Models (2025).
Cognitive Development and AI Tools Study, Pakistan (2025).
