I feared AI would leave my community behind. Now I see a path to prosperity

There has been worry of late that AI may eliminate jobs.I have seen the power of AI, and I can understand why some sectors are worried.

 I have even worried that this ongoing AI revolution may leave behind the troubled youth in my South Side of Chicago neighborhood.For the past several years, I have been building this massive Leadership and Economic Opportunity Center to teach young people the trades as a way out of poverty and violence.

And I’m sitting here, wondering if I made a mistake.Have I created something that is outdated? I admit I felt this panic deep within my soul.

Was I handing my youth a caveman tool when they needed the latest technology?I wondered how we would adapt to this ever-changing world that changes so fast that sometimes I can’t even remember who was in the news last week.So I took a walk through the walls of the new building.

It’s beautiful.It brings me such joy to see the rooms and the promises of opportunity that come with them.

We have rooms for the trades in every aspect of construction, from wood cutting to plumbing.We have rooms for creating new electricians.

We’ve also got rooms for creating HVAC workers and fiber technicians, and more.We’ve got amazing equipment for our youth to train on.

But was all of this for nothing? Did time pass us by?I did not create this building to leave another empty shell on the South Side of Chicago.Just down the street from us, Walgreens and McDonald’s fled, and there are boarded-up buildings.

There are no grocery stores, and we’re a true food desert where fried foods are often our only quick and easy option.The rates of homeownership here are abysmal.

Despite low home prices, some blocks have homeownership rates as low as 14% to 24%.We have a poverty rate of 40% to 51%, depending on which block you go to.

And don’t even get me started on our local schools.DIVINE PURPOSE HELPED BRING CHICAGO’S MOST-DANGEROUS BLOCK BACK TO LIFEThat is why I am so desperate to bring a symbol of...