A knowledge gap

There have only been a handful of moments in history that completely changed how ordinary people gained access to knowledge.

The printing press put books into the hands of common people instead of scholars and kings.

The telephone allowed us to reach experts without leaving our homes.

The internet gave us access to almost every piece of information ever written.

Artificial Intelligence may prove to be an even bigger leap than all of them.

For most of human history, if you wanted answers, you needed to know somebody who knew more than you did. You called your father for advice about fixing something around the house. You asked your accountant a tax question. You waited weeks to speak with a doctor about a concern that turned out to be minor. You paid a lawyer to explain paperwork written in a language only lawyers seemed to understand.

Knowledge was valuable partly because it was difficult to access.

Then AI came along and changed that equation overnight.

Today, a person can sit in their living room and ask questions about health, taxes, investments, home repairs, retirement planning, travel, technology, relationships, or almost any other subject and receive understandable answers in seconds.

But I don’t think the biggest impact of AI will be on businesses or professions.

I think it will be on ordinary people.

Five or ten years from now, I believe we are going to see something that looks a lot like today’s wealth gap, except it won’t involve money.

It will be a knowledge gap.

Not an intelligence gap.

Not an education gap.

A knowledge gap.

There will be people who use AI every day as a teacher, coach, research assistant, and sounding board.

Before they buy a car, they’ll ask questions about reliability, financing, and negotiating strategies.

Before they visit the doctor, they’ll learn enough to ask better questions.

Before making financial decisions, they’ll educate themselves on the basics.

When something breaks in the house, they’ll learn enough to decide whether to fix it themselves or call a professional.

Over time, those small daily interactions will add up.

Five years later, one person may seem unusually knowledgeable about health, finance, technology, nutrition, retirement planning, and dozens of other topics.

Not because they were smarter.

Not because they had more money.

Simply because they got into the habit of asking questions.

Meanwhile, there will be others who rarely use AI or treat it as little more than a search engine. They’ll continue relying mostly on television, social media, headlines, and whatever information happens to cross their path.

The information will be available to both groups.

The difference will simply be who chooses to use it.

The part that fascinates me most may be what happens with children.

I think AI is going to show us that young children are capable of learning far more than we ever imagined.

Imagine a five-year-old with access to an endlessly patient tutor that can explain dinosaurs, planets, numbers, reading, music, history, or science in ways tailored specifically to that child.

Imagine a child asking “why?” a hundred times a day and getting thoughtful answers every single time.

For generations, education has been limited partly by time and resources. Even the best teachers cannot give thirty students one-on-one attention all day long.

AI can.

Some children will grow up with a teacher, tutor, translator, encyclopedia, and research assistant available every hour of every day.

Others won’t.

I suspect the first AI knowledge gap may not appear in college or in the workplace.

It may begin before kindergarten.

Personally, I find that exciting rather than frightening.

For the first time in history, expertise is no longer reserved for corporations, universities, wealthy families, or people with the right connections.

It is becoming available to everyone.

The people who benefit most may not be the richest, the youngest, or even the most educated.

They may simply be the people who stay curious enough to keep asking questions.

The internet made information available to the world.

AI may make understanding available to the world.