How to Guide Kids in the AI Era: Lessons from Lee Kai‑fu

Sharing my own parenting experience: "Parents should not make choices for their children; instead, they should provide the widest range of options so children develop the ability to choose. After a choice is made, assist them in testing hypotheses, refining their decisions, and guiding them toward the right path. Offering consistent advice and becoming a trusted voice is enough."

This interview includes many personal examples of how parents can help children find careers that won’t be replaced by AI.

Lee Kai‑fu, chairman of Innovation Works, warns that over half of current jobs will be replaced by robots in the next decade, but this does not mean everyone must pursue tech jobs; instead, they should discover their passions and unleash irreplaceable creative energy.

In the foreseeable future, AI will replace about 50% of human work. How can we become masters of machines rather than their servants?

Robots struggle with cross‑disciplinary thinking, abstract, subjective tasks without standard answers. Lee Kai‑fu emphasizes that love, emotion, trust, and communication are humanity’s final defense and most valuable assets.

He predicts a new era of human‑machine collaboration, where machines take over simple, repetitive, quantifiable tasks, affecting workers on assembly lines, traders, bank tellers, drivers, and even engineers, designers, and lawyers.

Some professions will transform; for example, doctors may have AI interpret diagnoses while humans provide the service bridge. Creative fields like artists, writers, directors, as well as humanities disciplines and top managers, remain hard for AI to replace because they cannot be fully analyzed by big data.

Lee uses "aesthetics" as an example: current AI can recognize common beauty or mimic famous works but cannot create truly new art, highlighting technological limits.

AI‑unsuitable tasks are not automatically suitable for everyone. Lee supports his daughters’ artistic paths, not because they’re immune to AI, but because they align with their interests and talents.

Technology advances faster than imagined, and education lags behind AI‑driven changes worldwide. Parents must change their mindset: stop imposing outdated ideas, give children ample choices, and help them discover their passions and uniqueness.

AI cannot yet perform cross‑domain thinking, at least for the next five years, and its progress depends on massive data and objective labeling.

Regarding beauty, AI can easily produce what most people consider attractive, like photo‑enhancement apps, but understanding nuanced aesthetics for different contexts is complex and subjective, which AI struggles with.

Objective, data‑driven tasks suit AI; subjective, non‑standard tasks suit humans, though not every human task is ideal either. One should not assume that learning something AI can’t do makes one superior. In the AI era, people should explore opportunities that match their strengths and passions, dedicating thousands of hours to what they truly love.

Service with warmth cannot be replaced by machines. Future job space will increasingly involve service industries, both traditional and new, such as "clothing‑folding specialists" who provide aesthetic value.

My older daughter studies fashion design; after intensive study and broad reading, she entered top design schools and now runs her own studio, with my role limited to business advice, never deciding her direction.

My younger daughter pursues photography, aiming to create "the most beautiful photography" rather than merely realistic images, demonstrating a creative vision beyond AI capabilities.

Soft skills like creativity, personality, and initiative outweigh hard technical skills in the AI era, as AI lacks these qualities.

Warm‑hearted service cannot be replaced by machines

Parents must accept that future job creation will be limited, and the remaining space lies in service sectors, which are valuable and not inferior.

Author: Lee Kai‑fu