In this personal essay, Daniel Susskind, an academic who studies the impact of artificial intelligence and a father of three, reflects on how AI is transforming childhood and education, drawing on encounters with the technology through his own family life. He describes using ChatGPT with his eldest daughter to instantly write a Dr Seuss-style story his own father never managed to finish decades earlier, and a separate incident where his family enjoyed an educational podcast, History's Not Boring, only to discover its child narrators were entirely AI-generated. These experiences crystallised for him how disruptive AI will be for his children's generation, and how ill-equipped current institutions are to respond.

Susskind argues that teachers, parents and employers are all struggling to adapt: teaching methods feel outdated, parents question what their children truly understand when AI does the work, and traditional markers of achievement such as exams and coursework are losing credibility as reliable signals of ability. He rejects instinctive responses such as banning or punishing AI use, arguing children must learn to navigate a world saturated with the technology rather than being prepared for the world their parents grew up in. The piece, drawn from his 15 years researching AI's effect on work and society, sets up a broader discussion of how children can use AI without losing core skills, though the excerpt ends before detailing specific recommendations.