My son will inherit a world split by who can use AI and who can't.

The Checkout Line Tells You Everything

Some people walk through Amazon Go without stopping. Their digital profiles and payment methods handle everything. Others wait in traditional checkout lines, struggling with card readers, locked out of conveniences that the digitally privileged take for granted.

This gap will widen. AI-enhanced services will get faster and smoother for those who can access them. Everyone else gets interfaces that companies stop improving.

The Poverty Premium

The credit system charges more to people who have less money. Higher interest rates. Rejected mortgage applications. Worse credit terms. Economists call it the "poverty premium."

For the affluent, debt builds wealth — favorable mortgages, investment access. For the economically vulnerable, debt extracts wealth — high interest rates, fees, penalties. Financial stratification amplifies class divisions instead of flattening them.

Buying Time Is Privilege

When someone skips a line through Uber Eats pickup or orders delivery instead of shopping, they're paying so someone else waits. The 20 minutes "saved" by ordering boba tea for pickup means someone with less economic leverage stands in line instead. Valuing some people's time over others reinforces class distinctions in quiet, pervasive ways.

Two Futures Are Forming

In one, people become fluent in AI collaboration. They access cutting-edge models, develop prompting expertise, and delegate routine tasks to focus on work that machines can't do. AI literacy becomes power.

In the other, people compete against AI systems instead of working with them. Without access to advanced tools or training, they struggle to show value in a workforce where machines handle increasingly complex tasks. They service the AI economy rather than direct it.

Will public education adapt fast enough? Will we create equitable pathways into AI literacy, or will it become another mechanism of privilege?