I had just wrapped an AI bootcamp for senior leaders when the CFO of a large conglomerate pulled me aside. He said, “In this AI world, I’m more worried about my 14-year-old’s career than my own. What would you tell him?”
The room hadn’t fully emptied, but I noticed a few people slowed their exit. It’s a fair worry. The world our kids will work in looks nothing like the one we trained for. There’s no established playbook, but here’s what I’d tell that CFO’s son - and every other young person. I call it staying SHARP.
S - Study what AI is doing to your field. Whether you’re drawn to medicine, law, finance, or film - AI is already reshaping it. Don’t just pursue your passion; understand what AI is doing to it. That awareness alone puts you ahead.
H - Hands-on. Play. Subscribe to a model - it costs less than a coffee. Understand its full capabilities. The way a 14-year-old approaches a language model is instinctively different from how the rest of us do. Less inhibited, more inventive.
A - Architecture. Look under the hood. It’s tempting to just master the tools. But understanding what’s actually happening - how these models reason, where they fail, why they hallucinate - gives you something tool-mastery alone never will: judgment. And judgment is not something AI is particularly good at yet.
R - Retain your thinking. Always. I know the temptation to outsource your assignment at 2am is real. But the moment AI becomes a crutch, you stop building the very muscle that makes you valuable alongside it. Use it as a sparring partner. Never a ghostwriter.
P - Patience. You’re not behind. We are genuinely early. Nobody - not the researchers, not the CEOs, not the people who built these systems - has this fully figured out. The playing field is as level as it has ever been.
Your 14-year-old isn’t entering a race someone else has already won.
They’re at the starting line. So are the rest of us. Stay SHARP.
Parminder Singh is cofounder of two AI ventures--ClayboxAI and Kampd--and has held APAC leadership roles at Google and Twitter. For feedback, please email to eteyeonai@timesofindia.com
The room hadn’t fully emptied, but I noticed a few people slowed their exit. It’s a fair worry. The world our kids will work in looks nothing like the one we trained for. There’s no established playbook, but here’s what I’d tell that CFO’s son - and every other young person. I call it staying SHARP.
S - Study what AI is doing to your field. Whether you’re drawn to medicine, law, finance, or film - AI is already reshaping it. Don’t just pursue your passion; understand what AI is doing to it. That awareness alone puts you ahead.
H - Hands-on. Play. Subscribe to a model - it costs less than a coffee. Understand its full capabilities. The way a 14-year-old approaches a language model is instinctively different from how the rest of us do. Less inhibited, more inventive.
A - Architecture. Look under the hood. It’s tempting to just master the tools. But understanding what’s actually happening - how these models reason, where they fail, why they hallucinate - gives you something tool-mastery alone never will: judgment. And judgment is not something AI is particularly good at yet.
R - Retain your thinking. Always. I know the temptation to outsource your assignment at 2am is real. But the moment AI becomes a crutch, you stop building the very muscle that makes you valuable alongside it. Use it as a sparring partner. Never a ghostwriter.
P - Patience. You’re not behind. We are genuinely early. Nobody - not the researchers, not the CEOs, not the people who built these systems - has this fully figured out. The playing field is as level as it has ever been.
Your 14-year-old isn’t entering a race someone else has already won.
They’re at the starting line. So are the rest of us. Stay SHARP.
Parminder Singh is cofounder of two AI ventures--ClayboxAI and Kampd--and has held APAC leadership roles at Google and Twitter. For feedback, please email to eteyeonai@timesofindia.com
