+ POLICY — Keir Starmer has said ministers should be able to “look every parent in the eye” and pledge that tech can cre…− POLICY — Artificial intelligence poses a “Hiroshima”-style risk to humanity if governments do not agree to curb how it…− CLIMATE — Artificial intelligence is often associated with ludicrous amounts of electricity, and therefore planet-heati…− EDUCATION — While many schools in England have banned smartphones, in Estonia – regarded as the new European education po…− EDUCATION — In a Cambridge classroom, Joseph, 10, trained his AI model to discern between drawings of apples and drawings…− EDUCATION — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently told a US podcast that if he was graduating today, “I would feel like the luck…+ EDUCATION — I disagree with the decision of lecturers to use artificial intelligence to create teaching materials (‘We co…− BUSINESS — Americans are growing worried about what artificial intelligence portends for their futures. Eight in 10 Amer…
TruaceTracing the truth around AISunday, July 12, 2026
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Education·P Space·Evidence-backed problem·Published 2026-07-12

Generation AI: fears of ‘social divide’ unless all children learn computing skills

In a Cambridge classroom, Joseph, 10, trained his AI model to discern between drawings of apples and drawings of smiles. “AI gets lots of things wrong,” he said, as it mistakenly identified a fruit as a face. He set about retraining it and, in a flash, he had it back on track – instinctively understanding the inner nature of artificial intelligence and machine learning in a way few adults do. His friends from the St Paul’s C of E primary school coding club tapped away to build their own AIs with similar dexterit…

TRV-2026-0099JournalismPermanent record — cite & verify
Generation AI: fears of ‘social divide’ unless all children learn computing skills
The quick read

In a Cambridge classroom, Joseph, 10, trained his AI model to discern between drawings of apples and drawings of smiles. “AI gets lots of things wrong,” he said, as it mistakenly identified a fruit as a face.

He set about retraining it and, in a flash, he had it back on track, instinctively understanding the inner nature of artificial intelligence and machine learning in a way few adults do. Just as people born in the early 20th century never knew a world without manned flight, and generation Z has always lived with social media, Joseph and his friends are AI natives.

Main points
  • In a Cambridge classroom, Joseph, 10, trained his AI model to discern between drawings of apples and drawings of smiles.
  • “AI gets lots of things wrong,” he said, as it mistakenly identified a fruit as a face.
  • He set about retraining it and, in a flash, he had it back on track, instinctively understanding the inner nature of artificial intelligence and machine learning in a way few adults do.
Problem

On the other hand, there could be a cadre of AI illiterates who risk social disempowerment.

The rundown

He set about retraining it and, in a flash, he had it back on track, instinctively understanding the inner nature of artificial intelligence and machine learning in a way few adults do. His friends from the St Paul’s C of E primary school coding club tapped away to build their own AIs with similar dexterity.

Sources

The debate