Why we can’t sit this one out: Learning AI and finding your why

When I was growing up in Madison, my father, Lendell Alston, made sure I knew the numbers. Not batting averages. The numbers that described what it meant to be a Black man in Wisconsin and Dane County: graduation rates, incarceration rates, income and wealth. He wasn t trying to scare me. He wanted me to see the field clearly so I could decide how to play on it. I ve carried that lesson through more than 20 years of running businesses in this city. I ve done design and video production, built Madison365 s first website, taught adults to code in YWCA Madison s YWeb program, and today I work as a software engineer and help organizations put AI to work. So when I look at artificial intelligence, I do what my father taught me. I look at the numbers. Right now, they re telling two very different stories at the same time. The story we can t ignore Start with where we stand. According to the Federal Reserve, the typical white household in 2022 held about six times the wealth of the typical Bl