Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
In a world where artificial intelligence (AI) is either treated like a miracle or a monster, Param Raval, an 11th grader from the Bay Area, California, is pushing much-needed clarity.
Param has built his work around a message that is rare online right now: AI is powerful, but it is not magic, and it is not harmless. Instead of letting fear-mongering social media posts or overconfidence shape how students interact with AI, he wants this generation to understand what AI tools actually do, where they fall short, and why the use of critical thinking is still extremely important.
“The most important thing for every student to understand about AI is that it has a lot of benefits but also a lot of harm,” said Param in his interview with Rooted, an India Currents’ initiative, centering the voices of the 2nd and 3rd-gen Indian Americans. “They should try to be as educated as possible before they start integrating it into their daily lives.”
His belief in education and balance is what drove him to start his nonprofit, The AI Compass (website in process), which teaches students how AI works, what its benefits and risks are, and how to approach it responsibly. So far, Param says that the organization has taught 200 students across over a dozen workshops, hosted in libraries and at his school.
What makes his workshops stand out is his approach on balance: “not only focusing on the harms and discouraging AI development, while simultaneously not being blinded by the potential and benefits that AI holds,” Param said.
From a classroom at Stanford to a personal mission
Param’s journey began with his acceptance into Stanford’s AI4ALL summer program, where he learned machine learning at the technical level. The program provided him with an understanding of the language, enabling him to comprehend what AI is doing behind the scenes.
That foundation led him to found a school club focused on emerging technology to educate students on AI’s possibilities and challenges. Over time, that expanded into The AI Compass, a broader effort to bring AI education to younger students across the Bay Area.
Param says his goal is to help students “find the middle ground,” so they can unlock the benefits of AI without becoming dependent on it. This includes teaching students how large language models work at a basic level, how bias and misinformation can show up, and why it is dangerous to treat AI output as automatically true.
It also means giving students strategies for using AI tools ethically and effectively. Param tells students to treat AI as a tool, not a substitute for thinking: “ChatGPT is helpful and can make you more productive, but it should not be the end-all, be-all or something you rely on to do your homework,” he said.
The moment AI safety became a reality
For many students, “AI safety” sounds like a distant and irrelevant topic. Param’s turning point came, surprisingly, from a school debate.
As a member of his school’s speech and debate team, he spent early 2025 researching artificial general intelligence, an AI that can match human-level intelligence. That topic forced him to confront the idea that AI is not just another tool like the internet or the calculator.
“AI is basically categorically different from other technologies,” he said. While every intervention has risks, he believes that AI has the potential to create a level of change that society is not prepared for.
That does not mean he believes students should avoid AI. It means students should stop using it mindlessly.
Param argues that what makes AI uniquely challenging is how tempting it is to avoid the slower path of learning and thinking for yourself when everyone is using AI to finish their work faster.
“The quick satisfaction of completing an assignment early” can easily win over striving for long-term growth, he explained.
“Use it for busy work, not the thinking.”
In schools across the country, students are learning that AI can speed everything up. But the question is what exactly students are speeding through, and what they are losing by doing that.
Param advises using it to remove the busy work, not to replace your brain.
He compares this shift to the introduction of calculators. Math teachers did not stop teaching math, but tests evolved to be harder. Students instead focused on more complex problems.
He thinks the same shift needs to happen with AI: let it handle repetitive tasks, but make schoolwork more meaningful so students still can synthesize, judge, and create.
Instead of manually formatting rows and columns for an assignment, Param used AI to generate the structure so he could focus on the thinking behind the task.
“Instead of just manually creating a table and adding rows one by one, I told ChatGPT to create the empty table for me. Then I was able to complete the assignment a lot faster and spend more time actually solving the problem instead of just adding rows and columns,” he said.
This is the core of his message: AI should remove obstacles, not replace effort.
The hardest part: convincing people that risks matter now.
Param says one of the biggest challenges in teaching AI safety is that the risks feel distant. Students know deep down that overreliance on AI can weaken their critical thinking skills, but the long-term cost does not feel urgent when their assignment is due tomorrow.
He compares it to climate decisions when people buy cars: they know that gas-powered cars harm the environment, but switching to electric cars requires effort and it is inconvenient. In the same way, many students know that AI has risks, but it is convenient and the harm feels irrelevant.
He also points to another issue shaping how teens think about AI: social media.
Param has noticed that much of the online conversation is extreme. Headlines like “AI will replace everyone” or “AI will solve everything” feed into fear, misinformation, or oversimplification.
“The only videos and articles that actually go viral… are the ones that are very extreme,” he said. “It creates a positive feedback loop where there is more anger, more uncertainty.”
His workshops are designed to disrupt that loop. He wants students to have enough real understanding to form their own conclusions instead of what the TikTok or headline tells them. In each session, he breaks down how AI systems work, walks students through real examples of benefits and risks, and guides them in practicing how to use AI as a tool without over-relying on it.
Being South Asian: Education, ambition, and doing the hard thing
When asked what cultural values shaped his approach, Param first mentioned education, something that many South Asians recognize as a major force in their lives.
He credits his parents’ emphasis on learning from an early age and the idea of going beyond a surface-level narrative. Instead of treating AI like an outside issue that “smart people will handle” he believes young people should dive in.
His second value is just as familiar to South Asians: the willingness to attempt hard things without needing to feel fully ready.
This theme came up repeatedly in his conversation with Rooted, the idea of “going first” even in uncertainty. In many immigrant households, children learn to navigate systems their parents did not grow up with, which builds independence and resilience. Param sees that mindset as useful in approaching AI safety.
What our generation needs to do to stay “irreplaceable.”
When asked what our generation should do in a future where AI can outperform humans in many tasks, Param offered advice that cuts through job-market uncertainty.
He believes young people should invest in what makes humans human: emotional intelligence, values, social understanding, hard work, and experience. AI can write well, code well, but it cannot genuinely experience love, memory, or culture.
“The things that make us human are our cultures, values, our emotions, our experiences,” he said.
He also emphasized that students should keep building critical thinking, because in a world filled with these powerful tools, the advantage will go to the people who can judge, decide, and lead wisely.
And that to him does not mean being the loudest in the room, but being responsible when everyone else wants to choose convenience.
“Being honest, responsible, proactive, not just taking things at face value,” he said, describing what it meant to lead with integrity in technology.
The future: exciting and “tricky”
Param’s optimism about AI is grounded in possibility rather than blind faith. “What excites me most about AI is the vast potential it has to unlock new possibilities,” he said, pointing to the way the internet once created industries that no one could have predicted.
What scares him is that society may not be prepared for it technically, socially, and ethically.
That is why his work is not only about teaching kids how AI functions, but about shaping how they think about power, responsibility, and the choices they make when no one is watching.
For Param, The AI Compass is not just about teaching students how to use AI, but about shaping how they think about it. He believes young people must learn to engage with AI without losing their independent thinking. “People should bounce off AI’s ideas but not over-rely on it,” he said, emphasizing that students should use AI as a tool rather than a replacement for critical thinking.
In the middle of the noise surrounding artificial intelligence, Param’s message stands out for his focus on balance rather than extremes.