Three Generations, One Seamless Thread

A Father's day reflection on How AI is already a big part of our lives

After my opening post in this series, I began working on the second installment, focused on adoption and scaling challenges in AI. But I found myself pausing to reflect on a deeper question: Is this AI wave truly real? Or is it just another hype cycle that will eventually pass? And if it is real, what makes it different?

My instinct, shaped by years as an engineer, management consultant, and a business leader, led me to seek solace in numerical evidence. Traditionally, I could have answered this question with stats like ChatGPT reaching 1 million users in 5 days, 100 million users in ~60 days and compared it to Instagram (1 million users in 3.5 months) or Netflix (1 million users in 3.5 years). But instead, I found more compelling evidence elsewhere.

In three recent, very personal interactions – with my two sons, and my father.

And what better way to honor Father’s Day than to share these reflections as a special edition in our AI series.

 Scene 1: The School Drop-Off

One morning, I was dropping my 9-year old to school, on the way to work. I casually mentioned that I was leading a town hall on AI that day. We don’t usually talk about my work, but I thought the topic might interest him as he’s already been playing with AI tools for a couple of years. His response?

“Another PPT, Dad?”

Those 3 words almost made me question my life choices. He followed up with,

“Did you at least try Canva?”

I dodged the question, dropped him off, and continued on to work. It was too late to change the presentation, but the exchange stuck with me, and made me reflect on two other recent interactions (Scene 2 and 3 below).

Scene 2: The 4-year Old and the Smart Speaker

One evening, I found my 4-year old “playing” with our Google Nest Speaker. He asked Google Nest to explain “ecological diversity.” (Don’t ask me where he picked that up.) The response was a bit too complex, so he calmly said, “I don’t understand, try again.” Google then asked for his age, and adjusted the explanation accordingly.

Just pause on that for a moment: A 4-year old, seamlessly interacting with AI. He doesn’t even know how to spell properly yet! And the AI, contemplating & adapting - in real time - to get the message across.

Scene 3: Sunday Afternoon with my Dad

One Sunday afternoon, my dad was reading an article some had forwarded on WhatsApp, sharing insights and asking about a few parts he didn’t understand. I explained what I could and then also introduced him to Meta AI on WhatsApp, ChatGPT, and Perplexity. We were looking at them as quick ways to get smart on some topics, and cross-check some information. Within minutes, without any onboarding, walkthroughs, or hand-holding, he was interacting comfortably with all three.

Natural, intuitive adoption.

No manuals. No Training. Just curiosity and comfort.

Full Circle

Reflecting on the exchange and the retrospective stories, I reached work. I did end up adjusting the intro of my town hall to include the school-drop-off story. I added some visuals. The session went well.

Later that evening, proud of my work, I showed the deck to my 9-year-old. He watched. Nodded. Politely said, “Okay, Dad.” And then quietly left the room.

One minute later, he came back and showed me a short video he had built and posted on YouTube. It featured a dinosaur (a Stegosaurus, to be precise), set to the music “We Are the Dinosaurs,” with overlaying text that read:

“Grown-ups using PPT while their kids are cooking with Slides & Canva.”

Brutal! In Gen Alpha speak, I had just been pro roasted.

But here’s the point - this day’s experiences perfectly capture what we are dealing with here. AI being used everywhere and by everyone – From Gen Alpha to Gen Z, to millennials and Boomers alike, both in professional and personal contexts. Every day people using advanced technology – seamlessly, intuitively, without ever reading a manual.

We are dealing with an AI native generation that is consuming, producing and sharing more content, faster and better than ever before. We are witnessing the most frictionless adoption of any advanced technology in history. We are reaching a point in time where

“There will only be two types of people in the world – those who use AI, and those who don’t know they use AI “

So if everyone from toddlers to grandparents can use AI so seamlessly, why then, does it stall in organizations? Why doesn’t impact scale?

That is what I’ll unpack next- the very real barriers getting in the way of real scalable impact.

Until then, Happy Father’s Day to all the incredible dads out there!

Originally Published on LinkedIn