Editor’s Note

We asked an Artificial Intelligence program to write a poem about being a teen who
has grown up in Santa Cruz and this is what we got in 20 seconds:

In Santa Cruz by the sea, Where the waves crash wild and free.
I spent my teenage years, With laughter, love, and tears.
The sun-kissed sand, the salty breeze, The boardwalk bustling with glee.
The pier where we’d fish and dream, Our youth so full of promise and esteem.
The town was quirky, artsy, and kind, With open minds and hearts refined.
Where we could be ourselves, express, And never feel the need to impress.
We’d hang out at cafes, skate parks, and beaches, Taking risks, pushing boundaries, and reaching,
For new horizons, new experiences,
With all the zeal and confidence of adolescence.
Yet with each passing year, We sensed the world drawing near,
As we faced the harsher truths, Of inequality, injustice, and the endless pursuits.
We learned to stand up, speak out, To fight for what we care about,
To question authority, tradition, and norms, And embrace our own values, passions, and forms.
So as I look back on those days, I cherish the memories, the joys, and the ways,
That Santa Cruz shaped who I am, And taught me to be brave, bold, and damn.

Science fiction has become science fact, so suddenly, and it’s more than a little scary. Susan Tatsui-D’Arcy takes our first look at the new widely available Artificial Intelligence in her column on page 17. She is watching history being made and the world changing as fast as it did when the Internet was invented.
We are shaking our heads and looking to answer more questions. Next month we will have answers from other educators about how they will handle a technology that will do all the homework students can dream of.

Is this a future you want? Are you ready for it? What should we do with it? Do you like the poem? Can you do better (we don’t think we can, especially not in 20 seconds, and that’s really scary.)
Let us know your thoughts about a technology right out of “2001, A Space Odyssey” and “Terminator” at [email protected]

We promise to keep all of our writing done by humans.

Thanks for reading,

Brad Kava,
Editor and Publisher