Learning to think outside the AI box

As SA schools settle into the 2026 academic year, the conversation is being dominated by digital literacy. There is a frantic push for AI and coding in our schools. However, as a graduate BI analyst and information systems researcher, I see a dangerous gap: we are teaching children the mechanics of technology without the critical thinking required to master it.

I believe that education in the 4th industrial revolution shouldn’t be about learning how to use technology but about developing the ethical inquiry to lead it. In my research on using AI to help combat fraud, I have realised that the machine handles routine perfectly. However, it cannot question a baseline or navigate ethical nuance.

This is where the power of youth in co-creating education comes in. If a machine can execute a task, our children shouldn’t spend 12 years learning to mimic it. We must move towards a “Zenith” mindset, where learning is an active investigation and not a passive reception.

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I learned this as a member of the “O’Icons”, the Class of 2021 at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls (OWLAG). Graduating during a global crisis forced us to become co-creators of our education; we couldn’t wait to be taught, so we had to work with our teachers in our own education. This experience proved that when students move outside routine ways of learning, they develop the resilience to lead.

This shift requires what OWLAG calls a “Pedagogical frame of reference”. The school did not just give me a scholarship; it gave me the ability to look at a complex problem and ask “why?”, rather than “how do I pass?”. We often hear about what South African youth “lack”, but my life, academic career, and research are proof of what happens when the system invests in a child’s infinite potential and dignity.

As the youth, we must reject the “deficit lens” we are often characterised by. We do not lack potential; we lack the platforms that value our inquiry over our obedience. Let us empower our next generation to be co-creators of their own intelligence.

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