Alan Kay, Cathie Norris, Elliot Soloway, and I had an article in the September 2019 issue of Communications called "Computational Thinking Should Just Be Good Thinking" (access the article at http://bit.ly/2P7RYEV). Our argument is that "computational thinking" is already here--students use computing every day, and that computing is undoubtedly influencing their thinking. What we really care about is effective, critical, "expanded" thinking, where computing helps us think. To do that, we need better computing. Ken Kahn engaged with our article in the comments section (thank you, Ken!), and he made a provocative comment: There are have been many successful attempts to add programming to games: Rocky's Boots (1982), Robot Odyssey (1984), RoboSport (1991), Minecraft (multiple extensions), and probably many more.

The best thing the technology community can do to help is to debunk the notion that only people who know how to code can work with AI. Instead, the world needs to focus on lowering the educational and psychological barriers to entry for computer-skill training and AI literacy – and that starts in grade school. In the United Kingdom, for instance, there is a clear digital skills gap and, unfortunately, stark gender disparity among student populations interested in computer science. In fact, only 12% of high school students in the country chose to take computer courses in 2017. On top of that, only 20% of those students were female.