A Gen Alpha builder explains how AI, autonomy, and Bitcoin are reshaping education and entrepreneurship.
In this episode of TFTC, Marty Bent speaks with Stella, the youngest guest in the show’s history, offering a rare look at how Gen Alpha is approaching AI, education, entrepreneurship, and Bitcoin. Stella describes her experience at Alpha School in Austin, a model built around autonomy, mastery, and long-term passion projects rather than rigid schedules and standardized paths. She explains how AI tools, especially Claude, have enabled her to build a real product, Bibliarch, without traditional coding skills, reframing AI not as a job-destroyer but as a force multiplier for individual agency. The conversation highlights how AI lowers barriers to entry for creative and technical work, making it possible for individuals to build niche products, games, and businesses without massive capital or institutional backing. Stella contrasts this opportunity with what she sees as Gen Z pessimism, arguing that motivation and responsibility, not access to tools, are the true constraints. Bitcoin enters the discussion as both a savings technology and a philosophical anchor, with Stella explaining how holding Bitcoin from a young age helped her avoid inflation and shaped her long-term thinking. Together, the episode paints a picture of a generation that, when given autonomy and the right tools, can bypass traditional gatekeepers in education, work, and finance.
“AI just allows more people to be able to do what they want rather than work for somebody else.”
“I don’t think AI is a harm to the job market, I think it changes the kinds of jobs available.”
“Why even learn to code after this?”
“Public school feels more like training you to work long shifts than actually educating you.”
“I’ve pretty much avoided all that inflation by holding Bitcoin.”
“Everything has an upside and a downside, you just have to choose which one to focus on.”
This conversation underscores a powerful throughline: autonomy plus tools equals leverage. Stella’s story shows what becomes possible when young people are trusted with responsibility, exposed early to AI, and encouraged to build rather than comply. Rather than fearing technological change, the episode argues that embracing AI and Bitcoin can unlock a future of small, independent creators and entrepreneurs with real agency over their work and finances. If replicated at scale, the Alpha School model, and the mindset behind it, could redefine how the next generation learns, builds, and thrives in an AI-native world.
0:00 - Intro
0:30 - Alpha school
4:44 - Introducing kids to AI
8:17 - BibliArch
13:45 - AI affecting job market
15:31 - Gen Z/Alpha mindset failures
18:22 - Bitkey & Unchained
19:50 - Bitcoin
23:42 - Process building BibliArch
26:52 - Alpha School model
29:00 - AI luddites
33:08 - Peer projects and final thoughts
(00:00) But the problem with those is that they're really expensive. When I thought about it, I thought, hey, this could just be another grab for the game, another feature. AI, I feel like, just allows more people to be able to do what they want rather than work for somebody else. I don't necessarily see it as a harm to the job market.
(00:17) And I've been investing in Bitcoin since when I was like five in 2015. I pretty much avoided all that massive inflation that would have been caused during that time. What is up, freaks? Welcome back to TFTC. We have uh a very interesting guest, the youngest guest in TFTC's 8-year history. You've been doing this for eight years.
(00:43) And Stella, you are our youngest guest at 15 years old. Welcome to the show. >> Hi, nice to be here. How are you >> doing? Well, doing well. Uh, like I was saying just before we hit record. >> Mhm. >> Uh, I'm excited to have you on because we have an older audience >> and I didn't tell you this, but there's been a running theme on the show and discussion on this show and the other show I do with Matt Odell, which is how do we reach the younger generations? >> Oh, yeah.
(01:11) >> In Bitcoin, because it's a bunch of millennials, Gen Xers, and boomers typically that listen to this show. And so I'm very excited to get the perspective of somebody who's on the cusp of Gen Z and Gen Alpha. You get to choose which one you uh associate with depending on how cool one one or the other generation is.
(01:31) >> Um but this came to be because of an assignment you have at school at the Alpha School. >> Yeah. >> In Austin. in the office school is I'm not sure if you're aware but outside of um the Austin bubble I think with tech forward and uh investment circles people are looking at what's happening at the alpha school around the country and saying hey this seems like a a pretty cool model like I was mentioning I listened to the invest like the best podcast with uh the founder Joe Lamont a few months ago and he was describing how
(02:06) he and the team the administrative team at Alpha School, built the school, but I think getting the perspective of one of the students is can be incredibly enlightening. So, why don't we start there? Story >> about yourself. >> Um, >> how long you been in alpha school and what it's like? >> I started Alpha in the middle of my 9th grade year.
(02:29) I before that, I was homeschooled pretty much my whole life and I was doing dual enrollment at the local community college, Austin Community College, ACC. Um, and I kind of just found it boring to be honest. It wasn't really causing me to do much with my life. I mean, sure, I'm at a college, but it didn't really feel all that inspiring or anything like that, which is why I decided to come to Alpha cuz I wanted to do something, you know, more.
(02:57) I have plenty of ideas. I had a plenty of ideas when I went in and so I kind of knew that it was going to be great for me because I always preferred the idea of doing being like an entrepreneur rather than working for somebody else and so Alpha you know seems like a perfect fit and it was when I joined it you know I can't imagine myself going anywhere else now >> and so what what is it like at alpha school what is what is a typical day like what what do you what autonomy and agency do you have over >> oh >> what you decide to focus on.
(03:30) >> We have quite a bit. Um, we we start our mornings with like 3 hours of academics, as I'm sure you know, that's kind of what most people do know where we do pretty much the core subjects. We do have minimums that we have to do in each of them. But otherw, you know, getting my work done. And we definitely have a lot of autonomy out inside of academics and even like outside of academics.
(04:04) We can go roam around the Austin city downtown and then you know masterpiece obviously is a lot of autonomy. So there's that. >> What's masterpiece? >> Oh masterpiece. Yes, that is our four-yearong passion project. Um so mine would be that website or I guess later game that I'm working on making. There's people making like AI teddy bears.
(04:28) There's going to there's like a AI chatbot for helping teens with like dating. Um there's a lot of really interesting products here that are, you know, coming up. And it's that's that's what we call this, the masterpiece, which is the four-year long passion project. >> Yeah. And that's I think that's one thing that as a father with younger children who got a almost six, a three year old and a three-month-old and thinking about um how they're going to learn moving forward.
(04:59) And as somebody who's really dove head first into incorporating AI into my business here at TFTC and what we do on the fun side, I often wonder like okay, when is the right time to introduce these AI tools into their life and what's the best way >> in which they can leverage them and like how >> I how was AI introduced to you to the students at at Alpha and how how often do you use it? Um, I'm not sure about how it was introduced to other students because I knew about it way before I joined alpha.
(05:38) Like when Chat GBT released, my parents were like instantly hyped up about it. I witnessed like the first YouTube video about it come out and they were like so excited about it and we all watched it as like a big family fun thing. Um, so I'm not quite sure how they introduce it to the younger kids since I joined in, you know, like in ninth grade, but we definitely do use it like quite a bit.
(06:02) Specifically when it comes to masterpiece in academics, it's a little more iffy because obviously we can't be doing any academic dishonesty or anything, but we can use them for if we're trying to, you know, better understand something or to help us with a topic we're really struggling with as long as we're not cheating with it, obviously.
(06:23) Um, so most of the work with AI goes into the masterpiece section. >> And so how long have you been using AI personally? So three or four years now at this point. Yeah, since like when did it come out? 2022, something like that. >> GBT3, I think. So, >> and I guess let's lean into it like what's your what's your go-to AI stack these days for different for different tasks? >> Um, for just, you know, if I need help with any random thing, I'll typically go to chat GBT, but for coding specifically, I like to use Cloud Code.
(06:56) I share the $200 subscription with my mom and we just work on our own projects with it. >> Are you uh were you are you just as amazed as I am at the 4.5? It seems it seems to be way better than the previous iterations. >> It's so good. >> Has has it helped you with your masterpiece project at all? >> Oh, definitely.
(07:19) My entire like website I I made it all with lot. Um, I don't know any coding myself. I guess I know like some basics. I tried doing the Khan Academy coding course when I was a little kid, but I never got further than making the snowman thing. Um, and so, you know, Quad Code has pretty much done all of the coding for me.
(07:42) I haven't touched it at all. I haven't even opened the files, I don't think. And then when it comes to like actually hosting and launching the website, did you have to go through buying a domain, setting up the DNS? >> I did do that. That's not something could really do, I guess. >> But, um, it was really easy and it's fairly cheap, too.
(08:04) Like the domain name I got is only $30 a year. So, it's practically a non-expense at that point. And, you know, I just had to upgrade my superbase. So that's, you know, getting a little bit more expensive, but >> yeah, >> whatever. >> Well, let's talk about it. Um >> Okay. >> What you're what you're building, I ultim your ultimate goal is this Sims like game.
(08:26) >> Yes. >> However, you have to of build fundamental building blocks to to get to that end state, and you've been working on somewhat of a storyboarding prototype. >> Yes. So, since my game is kind of like AI Sims, you kind of need people's characters to have substance for the AI to go off of for them to be correctly characterized.
(08:48) Which is why I made my website, which is visual note takingaking essentially, so that you know, authors or other people like just with characters that they want to simulate write down every little detail about their character, their story. They can storyboard it. they just it's a visual way of planning out every little aspect and taking notes on it.
(09:08) Um, and that's that's what the website is really for. And it will be incorporated into the game, but for now it's just the the website itself cuz I haven't quite made the game yet. >> And what's the website? >> It's called biblarch.com. B I B L I A R C H. Um, it's derived from two different Greek things.
(09:33) Bibi from like biblio as in book and then arc as in kind of like monarch or ruler. So it's Oh, there it is. >> Okay, I'm in. >> Okay, >> share this again. So, let me think of a story. I can tell I create a new story. What do you recommend? >> I'd recommend the the template. >> Okay. because it gives a it gives a good view of all the nodes.
(09:57) >> Let's tell the story of Satoshi Nakamoto. Let's make this what is >> Oh, wow. >> Um Satoshi before Bitcoin. >> Oh, >> okay. Very responsive. Okay. Now, what are what would you recommend I do here? >> Um fill it out to your heart's content. you know, you can go into the characters and relationships to put in the characters.
(10:25) Um, and just look at the different types of nodes. >> Okay. Okay. We don't have to do this all. I think this is really cool to >> say. Oops. >> Switching keyboards here. Yeah. So, this is cool. So, then you create like a relationship map. >> Mhm. >> Okay. So yeah, we can basically >> Mhm. >> create these relationship >> and if you press connect characters then you can create their how their relationships would look.
(10:59) >> Okay, >> you click one character then the other >> character three professional. Okay, this is really cool. >> So how long did it take you to build this? um about the half half a semester it took to build that and then for the second half of the semester I've been just refining it you know fixing all the bugs I like released it to the public this se like the second half of the semester um you know all all that stuff >> okay using this now and so so now I can see what you're doing so you you like to tell stories you like to write
(11:37) >> um fiction >> and so as a storyteller, somebody's written fiction in the past. What problem does this solve for you? >> Well, I there are other websites like this. >> Mhm. >> I've used them before, but the problem with those is that they're really expensive. Um the one that I used before this was Milanote, but they give you very limited storage and then you have to pay to a monthly subscription after you hit a certain threshold.
(12:10) And it's it's very annoying and it's kind of just unrealistic for the average person to be able to afford that which is you know what inspired me to kind of make my note-taking look like this. I had a different initial idea for how the note-taking would look but when I thought about it I thought hey this could just be another like grab for the game another feature of it rather than you know kind of setting the note takingaking aside since it's kind of a major aspect of the game.
(12:38) And so with the game is that the intention and the goal is to allow individual users, players to build their own universes and characters. >> Okay. >> It's pretty much aiming to be, you know, as I said, The Sims is my major inspiration, but more so it's meant for plot simulation than life simulation. So you'll be able to simulate scenes, build like a world map, um all of that stuff that usually games don't allow you to do because they have, you know, smaller ideas of what of playing, you know.
(13:16) >> And would it be like Ready Player One where individual universes created by individual players can interact with each other or >> Oh, I never quite thought of other people's characters interacting to with each other, but that could actually be great. Um, it's more so for creating the universes themselves and like simulating the characters together that like exist in the same world.
(13:39) But I guess I mean you could create different worlds if you have different stories as well or maybe share them with your friends. >> Yeah, this is fascinating as somebody who's been away from uh the gaming scene >> for quite a while. It's been a while since I picked up the sticks or downloaded the game on on my desktop. But um I think that's that's one thing that's really sort of illuminating to me with this AI wave is just how there's a lot of people worried I'm sure you may be aware of it in the mainstream people are worried
(14:10) that AI is going to take people's jobs that there's not going to be any use for >> for humans anymore but I having used it and leaned into it myself I I find it >> hard to believe there certainly will be some job disruption but I think for individuals with creative desires and more importantly agency and uh the will to actually use this stuff.
(14:31) It's incredibly powerful. What's your perspective? >> Exact. That's exactly what I think. I don't think that AI is exactly a harm to the job market. Just rather, you know, putting it in Oh, I got a popup on my screen. I don't think that AI is exactly a harm to the job market, but rather that it will change the kind of jobs available.
(14:53) So rather than going to work for some big gaming mega corporation, people will be able to make their own dream games. You know, before AI, you would see everybody saying, "Oh, I wish I could quit my job so I could just make my dream game." Or, you know, growing up, all my friends wanted to make video games.
(15:08) But for the average person, you know, it's it's not really available to them with the time and money since it's expensive. Um, and AI I feel like just allows more people to be able to do what they want rather than work for somebody else. So, I don't necessarily see it as a harm to the job market, but rather allowing more people to be their own boss and make their own products.
(15:32) >> No, it seems like that's a very big focus of Alpha. >> Mhm. And and that naturally leads me and I'm sure you interact with plenty of kids your age outside of Alpha. Do you think there's going to be um I'm trying to think of the way the frame like are you worried about people your age that aren't interacting with these tools yet? >> Um to be honest a little bit. Yeah.
(15:57) I feel like it mostly boils down to motivation issues. I see like some friends of mine, they kind of just don't really have drives. And so I'll tell them, hey, why don't you try out doing AI coding for this idea you have? And they kind of shoot it down because they aren't really willing to put in effort. And I feel like that's that's kind of the biggest issue here of people are just instantly shooting down things when it could be good for them.
(16:25) And that's you know probably the biggest problem is that they won't accept you know the responsibility and you know working towards things that they want. I just hope that AI will help them realize that it's going to be much easier than they think. >> Mhm. And that's uh I mean the generation above you or you're straddling the older generation that you straddle that's uh one of the um one of the big problems that at least we discussed on this show >> a lot this year is this this idea that um a lot of particularly the older
(17:01) members of Gen Z don't think that there is enough to be inspired about and enough motivation to go out there and actually put effort in because they think the is working against them. But again, to your point and what I truly believe, it's this if you have these AI tools and you lean into them and you show some agency and some drive, you can actually do something >> productive.
(17:25) And that's what I hope and and one of the things I've been saying on this show is I hope Gen Alpha is sort of able to um really lean into this opportunity considering how much time they have >> in front of them and and take advantage of it. Definitely. Um I think that Gen Alpha has a a better chance at this because they're being introduced to it much younger.
(17:51) So like, you know, I'll go babysit my younger cousin, not Will's kid, the the other cousins. And my little cousin Elton will be, you know, talking with Chat TV about a game idea he has and like creating ideas for his Pokemon fan game dream. And so I feel like the younger generation of Gen Alpha definitely has a much better chance of learning how to, you know, adapt to AI and use it to fuel their dreams.
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(19:54) And that's why I'm really um inspired by your entrepreneurial spirit and leaning into this and I guess >> building on that like Bibliarch and the games >> that may flow from it. Like do you see this as something that you can monetize? >> Um I mean yeah I guess like anything that you can make you can monetize I suppose. Um, people use AI for, you know, making personal projects and, you know, projects they can monetize.
(20:22) It It's really all just the same as long as it's, you know, driven by motivation, you know. >> Mhm. Yeah. And I'm seeing here, yeah, it looks like there is a paid tier on Bibliarch and you can pay in Bitcoin. Are you only accepting Bitcoin? that is a donation page and I do accept non Bitcoin but uh Bitcoin is obviously an option. I would prefer Bitcoin frankly.
(20:50) I'm right now working on a paid tier though which will you know allow users to do multiplayer. Multiplayer has kind of been the the biggest like step up in this website and I've been working on it for a while cuz it it requires real time and all this stuff that's just kind of a a pain to make.
(21:10) But it's almost done and when it is it will be under a paid tier since it you know takes up a lot of realtime functions which I have limited of before having to pay extra. >> So yeah, it's going to be paid under a subscription something like that. Um, and yeah. >> Why do you prefer Bitcoin? >> Well, cuz inflation really. Um, I I've mostly just heard about inflation from other people, but in a way, I'm pretty sure that I did dodge it.
(21:42) From what I've heard, like half of the US dollars have been printed since 2020. And I've been investing in Bitcoin since like way before 2020 when I was like five and 2015. that kind of stuff. And so I had pretty much all of my savings in Bitcoin. And so because of that, I pretty much avoided all that massive inflation that would have been caused during that time.
(22:08) And it's kind of crazy to think about that because on top of it, I was making money through Bitcoin going up. And so, you know, >> that's incredible to hear. I mean, that's the other thing, too. Start young in Bitcoin. It's about time in the market, not timing the market. And so >> yeah, >> fact that you're 15 and have been able to recognize the upside potential of holding Bitcoin for the long term is again I think another benefit that Gen Alpha has.
(22:35) >> Yeah. >> Moving forward, what what does your peer group think of Bitcoin? Are you unique? >> Um, no. I have other friends that are like, you know, kind of in the Bitcoin space, but I feel like I'm probably the biggest into it. I'll try to get my friends to, you know, my friend Lily is saving up for a computer and I'm telling her, "Lily, put your money in Bitcoin while you save up for it or, you know, other stuff like that.
(23:02) " So, I'm probably I'm the biggest into it, but they don't have like negative feelings towards it or anything. >> Mhm. Just sort of indifferent if you're not really into it. It's like, oh yeah, it's a thing. exist because that's always been a long long-standing assumption uh in the Bitcoin space is that hey Gen Alpha is really going to get this cuz um you're 15 you were born gosh it's hard after Bitcoin launched >> after Bitcoin launched so >> you've never lived in a world where Bitcoin didn't exist which is >> hard for somebody like me to fathom
(23:32) because I spent more than half my life uh with Bitcoin not existing which is uh >> yeah it's Um, it's interesting to go through, but like building Biblio, what were some of the biggest challenges and sort of the the roadblocks that >> Oh, yeah. >> you ran into. >> Um, I'd say the biggest challenge was just clawed code not listening to me.
(23:58) Sometimes it likes to go off and do its own thing or it messes everything up in one go and it's really annoying. Thank God for backups because I've almost lost everything at times. Um, it's definitely the biggest struggle, just the AI being kind of incompetent at times. >> I think with four five I've noticed, I don't know if you've noticed this, the uh cloud code has been way better.
(24:22) >> Oh yeah, it hasn't like made giant mess ups in forever for me. That was pretty early in development that it was doing that. >> And so what's that flow look like when you're do you just use claw? You connected the cursor >> just claude. I go in the terminal, you know, cd blah blah blah, get into the correct directory and then claude and boom, I I got it.
(24:46) >> Are you using their MPC framework at all? >> NPC framework that >> it's sort of their agentic framework that lets you contract agents within Claude's app to do particular microtask. >> Well, I've never heard of it, so I guess not. >> Yeah. MC uh no MCP, excuse me. >> Um >> I haven't heard of it. >> Yeah.
(25:13) No, I was just thinking about if you lean into that and create little agents to do little subtasks for you. >> This Yes. My mom has um my mom's been doing this. I haven't yet. I've been meaning to, but she says that it's like really helpful. And she gets them to write all different documents on different things. And then she tells the main quad, um, go over these documents and review and tell me which way is the best way to do this in all subjects.
(25:42) >> Yeah. No, it's and to be honest, I haven't leaned into it as heavily as I probably should be, but um, it feels like for Bibliarch specifically, it could help you >> really accelerate this. And I think that's the other crazy thing. So over the course of your masterpiece building this Um, how I mean we're talking about Claude 4.5.
(26:05) >> Mhm. >> But like how how more powerful have the AI tools gotten since you started on this project? >> Oh yeah, definitely a lot more. When I started this, I was actually not using Claude. was using Replet and I ran out of the amount of stuff that I could use to code with Replet which is why I moved to Claude and instantly it was just so much better and you can really tell the difference especially like you know Replet versus Claude code or Chad GBT versus Claude code.
(26:39) Claude is so above all of the other models and considering it'll only get better. It it really makes me think that, you know, this is like the complete future of coding. Why even learn to code after this? >> Mhm. Yeah. Do you do you feel fortunate to be at Alpha to be able to have the autonomy >> and the the ability to focus on stuff like this? >> Yeah.
(27:04) Um, I, you know, you know, talk to friends and they talk about how they don't have time to partake in hobbies and stuff like that and it makes me realize, you know, I'm really lucky to have all the time to be doing this cuz not only can I work on it at home, I can work on it at school and it's so beneficial to me and I feel like so many people could benefit from, you know, a similar model in public schools or other things.
(27:28) Do you think it will get picked up by other other school systems or private schools? cuz that's I mean just outside looking in >> and um speaking with people like your parents who have sent their children there it seems pretty clear to me that the structure the curriculum and sort of the model by which you um sort of have kids like yourself follow their passions and while doing so in doing so >> learning some pretty complex things and actually getting a good education.
(28:04) seems like the right way to do it to me. I mean, I went to a monastery um school when I was younger and I think I feel like it's very similar. Just find what children are passionate and sort of >> foster and nurture that passion and the best of your ability as a as an educator. And it seems like Alpha is really taking that to to another level.
(28:24) >> Yeah, definitely. I wish that, you know, public schools would incorporate this, but I I don't know. I don't think that they'd actually do it cuz public schools seem more like they're trained to they're trying to train you for, you know, being in the workplace, lock working these long shifts.
(28:42) To be honest, I don't know if it's really all that about education at this point. It's the exact same as like hundreds of years ago. >> Yeah. The the Prussian model of public schooling systems. learn how to get in line, listen to the bells, walk to your next class, and uh >> learn the subjects that we put before you. >> Yeah.
(29:01) >> What is your uh what is your great hope for your generation? >> My what? Oh, my great hope for my generation, I guess, really just to kind of stop being so negative. Everything I see online with Gen Z is just really negative, really pessimistic. And I feel like a lot of people are holding themselves back because they try to see the worst in everything to be, you know, correct or like, oh, you see this AI thing is so harmful.
(29:31) I'm so I'm so caring because I say this. It's kind of like almost fake. And you know, since the fakeness is coming in a way of um of negativism, it's kind of promoting more negativism. And I just wish that, you know, my generation could be more positive and more like, oh, this is a good tool we can use. We can, you know, make our lives better with this rather than only focusing on the downsides because pretty much everything has a downside and an upside.
(30:03) It's just you got to choose which one to look at. Yeah, it's a double-edged sword, if you will, >> with silver linings in between. >> Yeah, the moral social signaling is a it's Gen Z is not the only ones doing it. people. I think that is something that is uh systemic throughout society across all generations and >> especially in the age of social media um it's really it's really easy to be a moral social sign uh signaler online because it's very easy to get social brownie points in the forms of likes and retweets and stuff like that.
(30:40) >> Um so that is it is weird. I mean being a millennial who was really I'm at the perfect age to remember life right before the internet um pretty vividly in life when the internet became popular and as it's progressed and um I think that's another thing a lot of people don't realize is that you me um my parents your parents were born at this really interesting inflection point in human history where we're transitioning from the industrial age the the digital age How do we >> how do we sort of um evolve with these
(31:16) new technologies? And I think that's what we're witnessing what you're describing now is sort of this confrontation with this incredible change in a very short period of time. My parents often like they've mentioned to me before that back when the internet was released um like it internet started existing people had the same reaction towards it that they have towards AI and same with like the industrial revolution it it seems like whenever any new sort of technology comes out people tend to down on it rather than embracing it even
(31:52) though it's the future and you know I I find that very counter her productive. And I don't even quite understand why people would be against it because it makes no sense to be anti-inovation, especially since, you know, all of these tools that are created, people always think that they're going to take jobs, but they seem to make jobs.
(32:11) You know, the industrial revolution causes more people to be able to do different things or like, you know, technology coming into play allows all these technological jobs with like, you know, the coding and digital art, all these things. And AI, I think it's, you know, going to be the same.
(32:28) It's just going to give people more jobs, just not the same ones that they're used to. >> Yeah. When I think about it, I think there's great potential for an explosion in small and mediumsiz businesses. We can have a a world of hundreds of thousands, millions of even small businesses of people using AI to build obscure niche >> products that exist on the internet and interact with >> the physical world.
(32:55) sometimes and give people agency to control their own lives and most importantly um not most importantly but importantly their their financial well-being. >> Yeah, definitely. >> Yeah. What uh what are some other projects I mean you alluded to some earlier in discussion but what are some of your peers building >> um >> for their masterpieces? There's, you know, the kind of poster children of the school, like the AI teddy bear, the AI dating coach, um, that kind of stuff.
(33:26) There's a kid making a running app kind of based off of Pokémon. There's a girl making a kind of um, true crime thing for like teenagers to solve true crime cases. There's nonprofits for like helping voters come into things. There's, you know, multiple streamers. Streaming is actually a quite a big thing at my school surprisingly.
(33:50) Um, you know, various topics over different things. Oh, modular clothing. That one's one of my favorites. >> Yeah. Fill me in on streaming. Streaming culture is a culture that it's the first time >> where I feel old. this uh emergence of streaming culture. And I look at the streamers and kids your age will >> sit there and watch somebody on Twitch or Kick or whatever >> live streaming platform and just watch that person sit at their computer and talk about things.
(34:17) What in your mind, what is >> what is the draw, the allure of of streamers and what are the pros and cons of of that format? >> To be honest, I'm not too sure about the draw. I've never been big on streaming myself. I've heard other kids at my school say that it's kind of like nice to put on for like background noise if they're like studying or like playing the game alongside them.
(34:41) I guess >> I'm not quite sure altogether though cuz I don't really have my own experience on it. >> You're a similar spot to me where it's like, okay, what the heck is going on over there? >> That's good to know there's some uh like-minded individuals in uh on the cusp of Gen Z and Gen Alpha. >> Well, Stella, this is um this has been awesome.
(35:00) Thank you for being the youngest best ever >> what um what have we not discussed that you think >> the audience >> you would like the audience to walk away with whether that's particularly what you're working on Bibliarch how alpha works or just um a message from uh a 15-year-old Gen Alpha/Genz uh to a much older audience. Um, I guess just, you know, AI is the future. Better embrace the future.
(35:32) I mentioned that already, but you know, that's a good message for an older audience because I tend to see, you know, older people kind of rebelling against new technology, I guess. But I don't think that your audience would be like that. I feel like they're pretty innovative. >> Yeah, they're very innovative.
(35:50) The best, the biggest, the brightest >> audience in the world here at TFTC. So, uh, just an affirmation for for all the audience members who are already leaning into AI, you're doing the right thing. >> Yes, definitely. >> Gosh. Awesome. Well, Stella, thank you for your time. Good luck finishing >> for having me. >> Good luck um >> for the rest of your tenure >> at Alpha School.
(36:14) I think it's really cool uh what you're building and what you're participating in at Alpha School. like you said, I think this model should be replicated as widely uh as possible across the country, across the world. Um because I think it is the future of >> education. I'm a big believer in autonomy. As somebody >> who went to public and private school and um sat in class uh waited for the bell to ring, walked in to the next class. Yeah. And I I hated it.
(36:45) I And there high school we had a bit more autonomy. not as much as autonomy as you had, but grade school, public school uh was like a prison to me. I think uh >> I don't think it's changed much since I was uh since I was going to the public schooling system. And so hopefully this is a uh >> a great model.
(37:06) I know it is a great model. Hopefully more people become aware of it because I think >> the discussion that we had a 15-year-old being able to come on a podcast and talk with this much uh confidence and >> um talk about something very interesting which is building something using cutting edge AI tools like Claude um is an example of like hey this is what >> we should want our youth doing.
(37:30) This is what we should want them leaning into. So thank you for your time and >> yeah thanks for having me. Yeah, I wish you luck. >> Thank you. >> All right. Peace and love, freaks. >> Thank you for listening to this episode of TFTC. If you've made it this far, I imagine you got some value out of the episode.
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