As a 7-time uncle and the deepest in tech in my family, it falls to me to advise on what the kids should be studying in the wake of AI.

Happily, my outlook has become far more positive as we’re finding the limits of what this current generation can do. AI will absolutely kill some jobs, but new ones will appear and for the most part it will augment and hopefully improve.

It’ll be those who actively play with tech who will win out.

And this excited the hell out of me because this meant that the best thing to do por los sobrinos on our recent family holiday was to release my full inner nerd and get them building like Uncle Theo 🤘

The build

7 kids, 2 hours and 1 microphone later, we had DuffDobble! A 15-player, high-intensity party game up on the TV, with every family member playing from from their phones.

A close-up of a screen displaying a game called 'DuffDobble'. The game features several circular player icons, some with caricatures of people or The Simpsons characters, and numbers indicating scores. In the center, a large caricature of a man with a beard and open mouth is shown with 'Player!' below it. There are also empty player slots and cloud graphics on the blue background.

It was mind blowing.

A full game built by 5-10 year olds, all with their voice.

They absolutely loved it.

They learned first-hand about MVPs, gathering feedback, and importantly this new world of AI-enabled development.

They wouldn’t stop talking about it - iterating over the following days to improve it, as well as building other totally new ideas!

Uncle Theo meanwhile learned how much he values naps from hordes of children.

My expertise in the modern dev process did help to steer - but almost all work was done by a kid with a microphone.

The lesson

Now more than ever is a great time to get into tech.

The computer is no longer the private property of us nerds. Any who want to let their imagination run wild can create tech enhance their passions.

To me this just means your strength comes in your creativity ✨

Frontier models are still expensive, but the secondary models are getting so bloody good and cheap now, we’re not far from this being anybody’s game.

The ask

I’m deep in my indie maker discovery journey. As I build and run experiments (like: how well can 5-10 year olds build with just their voice?) I’m drawn ever more to subjects close to me.

That includes: Being a remote uncle; playing padel, tennis and golf; being an expat; loving Spain; fostering new relationships; hosting dinner parties; healthy time management; keeping fit.

If you, or anyone you know, shares any of these hobbies, has a mindset of rapid experimentation and wants to build something great together, please put me in touch 🤘

Yours, Uncle Theo x

A cartoon yellow man with a beard and glasses, sticking his tongue out, is framed by a pink donut with colorful sprinkles. Above the man are the words 'DuffDobl' with a donut icon replacing the 'o', and '1/15' next to a group of people icon. Below the man is a white button with a checkmark and '1/15', and the word 'Ready!'. The background is light blue with white clouds. At the bottom of the image, there's a navigation bar showing 'ailc7f718.ts.net'.