The Edge of Yesterday, a series of teen time travel adventures, tells the story of a stem smart girl who builds a time machine and travels back in time to meet her idol, Leonardo Da Vinci, to learn about his life. The series contains three books in which the girl, Charlie, travels to different time periods to meet and learn about different people. The author, Robin Payes, recently spoke with Francesco Rulli, Global CEO of Querlo, about the challenges and opportunities during the covid era and the role of Artificial Intelligence in the future.
In addition to writing, Robin also offers an internship program for high school students. Students do evidence-based research on different time periods and then write stories and articles for Robin’s website. The website is interactive and the goal is to allow students to learn history through the eyes of a peer.
As someone who mainly works with teenagers, Robin believes one of the biggest challenges of covid was that schools closed. While students are still able to learn virtually, it can be very hard to keep them engaged and on task. Robin experienced this as she ran her internship program this summer and found that the daily Google Meets she had with her interns became tiring. On a more positive note, she felt it is fascinating that we are able to use the tools that are available to us to try to continue on with our lives as best as we can during the pandemic. School, work, and internships such as the one Robin runs would have never been possible without the technology we have today.
Artificial Intelligence is something that is already being heavily used and will continue to improve in the future. Robin described how her students already use it when unlocking their iPhones with Face ID or on social media, which is continuing to integrate deep learning tools. In addition, what is so exciting about AI is that it creates this ability to create a world that doesn’t necessarily require your presence but still represents you in the world. Since it doesn’t have emotions, it is also something that will always be there for you.
For more information on Robin’s work, you can visit her website. Her books are also available at any bookseller.
