"AI is the new electricity. It will transform and improve all areas of human life."
— Andrew Ng
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Centuries ago, society didn't view language literacy as a necessary skill. A small number of people learned to read and write, and everyone else relied on them. It took centuries for literacy to spread, and now society is far richer for it.
Only a small elite were literate centuries ago
Reading/writing skills were specialized
Most people relied on literate individuals
Global literacy rate today (UNESCO)
Literacy is now considered a fundamental skill
Society has become richer through widespread literacy
Today we take it for granted that many people know how to read and write. Someday, we hope it will be just as common that people know how to write code, specifically for AI.
Words enable deep human-to-human communication. Code is the deepest form of human-to-machine communication. As machines become more central to daily life, that communication becomes ever more important.
As machines become increasingly central to our daily lives, the ability to communicate with them through code becomes as essential as traditional literacy.
Traditional software engineering—writing explicit step-by-step instructions—has been the main path to code literacy. But AI, machine learning, and data science offer a new paradigm where computers extract knowledge from data.
Explicit step-by-step instructions
Common Learning Examples:
Computers extract knowledge from data
Key Characteristics:
Broader Applicability: AI and data science can be applied in almost any situation that produces data.
Practical Value: More professions find uses for custom AI applications than traditional software engineering.
Accessibility: You don't need to build complex systems to gain value from AI programming.
Empowerment: Enables individuals to harness data to make their lives richer.
How AI coding literacy can transform even the most traditional professions
Traditional business with AI potential
"The gentleman behind the counter has little reason to learn how to build a video game or write his own website software. But AI and data science have great value even for a pizza maker."
Using historical sales data to predict future demand
Reduction in ingredient waste
Shorter customer wait times
Increase in profit margins
Uses of AI and data science can be found in almost any situation that produces data.
Predictive diagnostics, personalized treatment plans, drug discovery
Crop yield prediction, soil analysis, automated irrigation
Route optimization, demand forecasting, inventory management
A wide variety of professions will find more uses for custom AI applications and data-derived insights than for traditional software engineering. This makes literacy in AI-oriented coding even more valuable than traditional coding.
"I hope the promise of building basic AI applications, even more than that of building basic traditional software, encourages more people to learn how to code."
"If society embraces this new form of literacy as it has the ability to read and write, we will all benefit."