HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Tech leaders, educators and students wrapped up a three-day global conference this week designed to prepare the next generation for an AI world.
Innovation begins with a spark, and at this year’s Swell conference at La Pietra Hawaii School for Girls, it happens to be an interactive animated dog character called Spark Lingonberry.
Students asked questions and talked to the virtual dog, who remembers names, tells jokes and asks his own questions.
Spark was launched a few months ago by a company called The Illusion of Life, and while Spark still has a few kinks to work out, like delayed responses and missed nuances, the experience showcases what the Swell summit celebrates: technology led by human interaction.
“How can we make it more usable, useful, and more delightful, so it’s actually joyous when you’re using it,” said Swell founder and StratMinds’ global head of research/UX Summer Kim.
“We believe the winners of AI race will be determined by great user experience,” Kim said.
With the barrage of AI tools available, educators say the key is to teach students and parents how to leverage artificial intelligence and use it responsibly.
“So it’s not that it’s going to do the work for you, but it can provide a lot of possibilities,” said Justin Lai, education technologist at La Pietra. “There’s a lot of opportunities to engage with it so that it’s not as unknown and mysterious.”
That’s what global AI experts from organizations like OpenAI, Google and NVIDIA shared at the summit.
And while AI does have its dark side, from deep fakes to disinformation, advocates say the benefits outweigh the risks.
“I think the really important skills that we are teaching our students is to still have the critical thinking and the editor knowledge and understand the biases of AI so anything that if they’re using Magic School or Chat GPT, any of the AI tools they are still evaluating the output of that,” said Eva Lam, a STEM teacher at La Pietra.
“It all depends on the kid and you just have to teach them how to use AI the right way and it can have a lot more benefits,” said La Pietra sophomore Manasi Aryal.
Creating more local jobs is one potential benefit.
Organizers say embracing AI and supporting an ecosystem in Hawaii can help keep young people here.
“You don’t have to live in San Francisco to become some tech founder, because I think that even the younger kids, I think that they can actually learn different things by asking questions or go deeper in the context,” Kim said.
For more information about the Swell conference, click here.
Copyright 2025 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.
