Podcast: Improving accessibility to AI with a Gen Z lens

As a cohort that grew up with AI-powered technologies as part of their everyday lives, Gen Z has a totally unique understanding of the technology. Young entrepreneurs working in the AI space also think that access to AI needs to be made easier for young people.

“We need more fun, more affordable and more accessible ways to learn about AI,” said Samaira Mehta, a 13-year-old game coder and ambassador for Gen Arm2Z, a youth initiative of technology developers Arm.

She elaborated that a lack of education on coding in school is preventing young people from accessing knowledge on a technology critical to their daily lives. Samaira also noted it’s difficult and costly for young people to access detailed and free AI learning courses outside school.

Emma Yang, an 18-year-old app developer and fellow Gen Arm2Z ambassador, also noted “there are still blind spots, areas of the population under-served by technology in the way that the ‘average’ person is”. These groups include minority communities, people living below the poverty line and the elderly.

She proposed that educating more of the Gen Z cohort about AI could help this group teach older generations about AI and help overcome any hesitations around using the technology.

Emma also said AI needs to be developed further to maximise its effectiveness as a digital tool. While the conversation around AI has typically been around developing it within a code of ethics, Emma brought the conversation back to how companies can develop the technology to remove algorithmic bias and barriers to entry, making AI more accessible for everyone.

“I would love to see AI being used in fields that haven’t had a chance to benefit from it … so it’s not just about more ethical AI, it’s about more equitable AI”.

KPMG research also shows Gen Z and Millennials are more likely to embrace AI than other generations. This trust in a technology that could fundamentally transform society in the next two decades is only likely to increase as access to AI becomes more equitable into the future.

Gen Arm2Z ambassadors Emma Yang, Josh Lowe, Avye Couloute and Samaira Mehta were in conversation with Simon Segars, CEO at Arm, at Collision 2021 online.

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