What is a Digital Native?

How Are Gen Z, Alpha and Beta Using AI

A friend of the family is 26 and attending university. She’s a DACA recipient living in San Diego. We were enjoying a soccer match recently and she told me she didn’t have access to healthcare. She had surrendered to the idea that health insurance was impossible. It’s just how it is.

I asked her, “There’s always a way. Have you used AI to explore options? I’m pretty sure there are ways to get healthcare for DACA recipients.”

“Oh no, I really don’t use AI.”

I asked ChatGPT and Gemini about healthcare for DACA recipients. Low-cost, no-cost, community clinics, and programs at school.

I tinkered with the prompts and in about seven minutes I had answers including a program through her university. When I shared it with her, she replied, “Oh wow, thanks” — like I’d done something extraordinary. I hadn’t. All I did was ask a series of questions.

She’s on her phone every day using social media, Google, and other apps. But the process of asking a question, reading the answer, thinking about what’s missing, and asking a better question wasn’t automatic.

I asked my 23-year-old niece if she voted and she replied, “I don’t even know how to do that.” She can create content without thinking about it. But typing “how do I register to vote” into literally any search bar was beyond her. Not because she doesn’t care. Because the instinct to go find something out was never built.

I think the reason I can search until I get an acceptable answer is because I learned it wasn’t going to get done for me. There was no algorithm or Google. Answers waited at the library, in encyclopedias, and by asking someone who might know someone.

The willingness to ask a question and keep going until you have a real answer was necessary. Because the alternative was not having an answer-and that wasn’t an option.

The instinct to keep pulling at a question until it yields something useful is now a critical skill. Ask a question. Read the answer. Notice what’s missing. Ask again, differently. Repeat until the picture becomes clear.

My friend and niece live inside interfaces that put them at a disadvantage. Their phones deliver information through feeds that decide what is relevant. The various platforms prioritize engagement, not critical thinking. They aren’t designed to encourage actively searching, testing, and refining questions to get great answers.

AI and digital literacy are now prerequisites for most positions. But if tomorrow’s workforce can’t use it to solve problems and improve the workplace, where does that leave them?

Today’s AI systems are among the most powerful tools individuals have ever accessed. But they require a skilled operator. Someone must decide what to ask, whether the answer makes sense, and what question comes next.

Access to a tool is not the same thing as knowing how to use it.

This series looks at that gap.