'Hour of Code' Announces It's Now Evolving Into 'Hour of AI'

Last month Microsoft pledged $4 billion (in cash and AI/cloud technology) to 'advance' AI education in K-12 schools, community and technical colleges, and nonprofits (according to a blog post by Microsoft President Brad Smith). But in the launch event video, Smith also says it's time to 'switch hats' from coding to AI, adding that 'the last 12 years have been about the Hour of Code, but the future involves the Hour of AI.'

Long-time Slashdot reader theodp writes:

This sets the stage for Code.org CEO Hadi Partovi's announcement that his tech-backed nonprofit's [annual educational event] Hour of Code is being renamed to the Hour of AI... Explaining the pivot, Partovi says: 'Computer science for the last 50 years has had a focal point around coding that's been — sort of like you learn computer science so that you create code. There's other things you learn, like data science and algorithms and cybersecurity, but the focal point has been coding.

'And we're now in a world where the focal point of computer science is shifting to AI... We all know that AI can write much of the code. You don't need to worry about where did the semicolons go, or did I close the parentheses or whatnot. The busy work of computer science is going to be done by the computer itself.

'The creativity, the thinking, the systems design, the engineering, the algorithm planning, the security concerns, privacy concerns, ethical concerns — those parts of computer science are going to be what remains with a focal point around AI. And what's going to be important is to make sure in education we give students the tools so they don't just become passive users of AI, but so that they learn how AI works.'

Speaking to Microsoft's Smith, Partovi vows to redouble the nonprofit's policy work to 'make this [AI literacy] a high school graduation requirement so that no student graduates school without at least a basic understanding of what's going to be part of the new liberal arts background As you showed with your hat, we are renaming the Hour of Code to an Hour of AI.'

Read more of this story at Slashdot.